Imagine Weaver
by lvl7judgelight
Summary: This story is about: Number six, Level 6 Shift Project, Accelerator's Origins, SISTERS, Imagine Breaker, Touma's Origins, Academy City's Origins and Saten's Origins. SPOILER ALERT: Contains New Testament Materials. Update 9-3-2013: Imagine Weaver will be finished at Chapter 10, give or take. If you want full pdf download (includes arts), just ask via reviews.
1. 1 Academy City

Academy city.

With over a million inhabitants, it has proven to be the strongest city of the science side.

Because of its study of espers, scientists from all around the world gather to this artificial island and study about power development.

"...is the general idea," said the man.

He had earplugs on, and wore a gray hoodie. He looked at the city from the airport and sighed.

"Pretty smart way of putting it, if you ask me."

The man slowly walked towards the Academy City.

"I'm finally going to see the number one, I can't make him wait now, or can I?"

* * *

"Such misfortune..." said a spiky black-haired asian. He was just out of hospital after fighting the Almighty Thor, the second strongest person in GREMLIN. However, that was least of his worries right now.

He met Misaka Mikoto, number 3 esper in the city, and got attacked without any foreshadowing. She did say something about intruding into a girl's school and kept calling him pervert, but Kamijou Touma was not someone who was going to sit and apologize when bolts not good for human heart attacked him continuously.

When he finally evaded the electromaster, Himegami Aisa came out of nowhere asking him to go with her. Touma guided her and met Index, who was waiting for her breakfast to come. Instead, she ferociously chewed on the flesh and bone of the black-haired boy who was forgetting about her and was accompanying someone else to a lingerie shop.

When Touma finally got out of those two's hands, he found himself out of cash and idea on where he was. So now, he was walking his way home.

"Excuse me,"

Touma stopped. It was the most fearful thing he has ever heard that day-more than the strongest electromaster or head-biting nun.

A foreigner speaking english.

'Should I turn around? What if he's lost? He might start asking directions! Then how do I answer? How do I speak english to a foreigner?Idontevenknowwhattodoshouldiignotehimbut waitthatsnotbeingsonicewhatifheisalsooutofcashwell heisafeignerbuthowcanihelphimthereareplentyofother swhocanspeak englishandisnotoutofcash...'

Cold sweat flowed from Kamijou's back. With great courage, he turned around.

"Ha...hallow! Can ai helpu yuu?"

The gray-hooded man stared at Touma from inside his hoodie.

'Damn! Did he not understand me? What should I do...'

Touma clenched his fist and gulped down his saliva, when...

"Ah, I thought you were a foreigner because you looked lost...well, that makes things easier."

Did he speak Japanese?

Yes he did.

Did Kamijou Touma sweat cold for nothing?

Yes.

"Is something wrong?"

"...No, just let me be a second."

Kamijou covered his face and tried to see if he could negate his memories too.

Not.

"Uh...if it's not too much trouble..."

Kamijou looked up. The hooded guy smiled good-naturedly. "Do you know which bus I should take to go to Nagatenjouki high school?"

Touma twitched. That place was pretty far away, and if he accompanied this hoodie to that place, it'll be nightfall by the time he gets home, where Index would be clenching her teeth.

"Haah...it's quite complicated, so let me go with you."

"Oh, well, that makes things easier."

Touma turned to walk towards the bus station, and thoughtlessly muttered his renown phrase.

"Such misfortune..."

The hoodie's eyes widened. He quickly ran towards Kamijou and grabbed his collar, making Touma slip and fall on the floor.

"I knew I heard you from somewhere!"

Kamijou was speechless. Right now the first thing he wanted to do was punch the guy who so randomly punched him, but Touma tried to calm down and made a crooked smile.

"A-ah! It's been a while!"

The hoodie's face wrinkled. "Do you know me?"

Silence fell.

"Ah…aren't you someone I know?"

"I..don't think so? We haven't met yet. Rather, we are not supposed to meet yet."

That sounded wrong in many layers.

"Do you have a name?" asked Touma. The hoodie smirked in an evil way.

"Wait a second; you really don't know me, don't you? I doubted until now, but seems like you really did lose your memories!"

Touma twitched.

"…Who are you?"

"Thought so. You really don't remember me."

He was mocking Kamijou.

Kamijou Touma was a level 0, the weakest of the Academy City ranking, but his right hand could negate all other powers. Thanks to that, he fought several of the level fives and survived. He even fought the Godlike existence, Fiamma of the Right, and returned. He stopped World Wars several times over.

And now, some foreigner-looking hooded guy was taunting him.

Touma was a second away from clenching his fist and beating the crap out of the hoodie until his gray hoodie became red.

After breathing in slowly and exhaling for a long time, Touma looked at the hoodie with a serious face.

"Who are you?"

The hoodie's smile died down a little. "Come here, I'll show you who I am."

The hoodie passed by Touma ad started walking towards the bus station.

Kamijou stared at the hoodie's back, hesitated, and started following him.

* * *

"Today is Thursday, isn't it?"

"Huh?"

That was random. Kamijou looked outside the window. They were almost at Nagatenjouki High School. Kamijou took out his cellphone and checked that it was Thursday.

"Yeah, it is."

"I see. So the fifth for today? No, maybe I should take zero because of you." The hoodie smiled.

The bus stopped.

"We're here. Get off."

Kamijou's brows centered. "You knew your way around Academy City, but you still stopped me for directions. Why?"

"Why, huh?" said the hoodie. "Well, I thought I might play with the fate today. Anyhow, you won't remember anything about all that happened today."

The hoodie grabbed the infamous right hand of Touma—no, to be precise, he grabbed the wrist and ran out of the bus.

"O-oi! Wait! Why are we here again?"

The hoodie smirked.

"To talk to Nunotaba!"

"Who the hell is Nunotabaaaaaaaa!"

The rest of the words Kamijou spit out was no longer heard, because the hoodie ran into the school without any chance to let Kamijou speak.

* * *

Aleister was restless.

He didn't expect the one guy he didn't want to meet to appear right in his territory.

Moreover, the intruder didn't even use his power. He simply presented his passport. All he did was keep Aleister from interrupting the airport security system.

"This is a trouble beyond expectation," growled Aleister, the real leader of the Academy City.

In front of him, several monitors appeared. He was tracking the enemy, but he couldn't find him.

'He shut down all my interference power…!'

With a single whim, the enemy has made Aleister, the one man who could challenge and take over the world, powerless human inside a life vessel.

Aleister's face crumbled, perhaps for the first time. The air and water around him began to shiver, and the entire building started to rumble.

"THAT SON OF A BITCH!"

* * *

"I see. Then could I have his address?"

"Well, he's not exactly the type to leave traces, so… I mean, he didn't even come to school for at least a year."

"That's a depressing thought."

"Sorry, kid. Guess I can't help you."

The hoodie sighed and walked out of the room."

"So, in the end, who were you looking for?" asked Touma, who was waiting in the corridor.

"Accelerator."

Touma's right hand twitched. The hoodie mentioned Accelerator's name like he was the hoodie's neighbor. He was _the_ Accelerator, who nearly turned Touma into blood pudding. Twice. It was true that Accelerator has gotten more friendly with Touma (with the worst possible definition of friendly), but that wasn't the issue.

"Accelerator? You mean _the_ Accelerator?"

"Yeah. I don't know his first name, but I used to call him Nunotaba."

"Nunotaba…?"

"Both he and his sister seem to have disappeared some time ago. Guess I'll have to go to the next place then…" murmured the hoodie, inaudible enough to make Touma agitated.

"Woah, woah, wait!" yelled Touma. "If you are going somewhere else, then go! Why do I have to go with you? I'm not going to go to the number 1 esper of Academy for nothing!"

Although Touma didn't think that Accelerator was going to kill him the first time Accelerator sees him, Touma didn't like the fact that this hoodie was going to go to Accelerator. If Touma gets caught up between him and Accelerator, things might get ugly.

"So?" said the hoodie.

"Why are you so calm…"

Touma cleared his throat.

"Listen, hoodie. I'm not related with you in this situation. At all. I don't have to help you because you already know your way around Academy City. I don't have to meet up with number 1. Most of all, it's already nightfall and I have to return home before my roommate gets any fiercer."

"If you're talking about Index-chan, she met up with Tsukuyomi sensei and went to sukiyaki place."

"Eh…?"

Normally, Kamijou would be angry of the fact that Index went to sukiyaki place without him, but right now, Kamijou's concern was in the fact that this boy, although Touma was with him this entire time, knew about Index and her whereabouts.

Touma's right hand clenched. "Are you a magician?"

The hoodie smiled, and laughed his heart out. Touma twitched and loosened up his fist. Did Touma say something funny? He didn't think so. He was in fact very serious. But this reaction meant one of two things: either the hoodie was just making fun of Touma again, or the hoodie didn't know about magicians' existence.

"Ah-ahahahahaha, I say that now and then. I'm a little weird, as you can see. When I was young—"

"I'm not a magician. I'm an esper, and espers cannot use magic, remember?"

Touma's smile stopped. His eyes widened. He looked at the hoodie with a serious face—again. "Who the hell are you?"

The hoodie smirked. "I said, if you come with me, I'll tell you."

* * *

"You were coming here?!" yelled Touma.

"Yep. Your house. I have someone I want to meet here."

If you were coming to my house, just tell me sooner! I would've saved a lot of time that way—was what Touma wanted to say, but before he could speak, the hoodie rushed to his floor. However, he didn't knock on Kamijou's door, but the door to his room's left.

"Ah? What is it nyah?" said a familiar voice from within.

"Open up, Tsuchimikado."

Touma was tired from getting surprised. 'He must be someone from Academy City. After all, he knows everyone in here…'

But then again, he was carrying his luggage which still had a tag on. He just arrived to Academy City. He was clearly not from inside.

"Nyaah…. Coming!"

"That sounded wrong, didn't it?" said John with a smirk.

"Shut up," said Touma.

The door swung open, and the yellow-haired man with sunglasses and Hawaiian costume showed up.

"Hello," said the hoodie.

Tsuchimikado froze. "You…"

"Shh. Just tell me where Nunotaba is, and I'll get out of here."

However, Tsuchimikado was not listening.

"But…how? How can you be here? I thought…"

"WAIT A DAMN SECOND."

Touma's deep and serious voice stopped everyone from any other conversation.

"Is something wrong?" asked the hoodie.

"IS SOMETHING NOT WRONG IS THE QUESTION! YOU'VE BEEN DRAGGING ME FOR HOURS NOW AND WEIRD THINGS JUST KEEP HAPPENING? HOW DOES TSUCHIMIKADO KNOW YOU? WHO ARE YOU? WHY ARE YOU HERE? WHAT DO YOU WANT? WHY DO YOU EVEN NEED MY HELP TO BEGIN WITH! SPILL YOUR GUTS OUT! RIGHT NOW!"

Touma didn't realize that he was shaking the hoodie's neck until he said 'right now!' Touma came back to his senses and released the boy, but the boy laughed his heart out and entered Tsuchimikado's room.

"Come in, I'll explain."

* * *

"So, who are you?"

Tsuchimikado was cross-armed and leaning against a wall, while Kamijou and the hoodie was facing one another in the center of the room.

"Yeah…first of all, my name is John. Let's just say I'm John Smith for convenience' sake."

Touma was ready to throw the being in front of him outside the window.

"If you don't explain who you are in ten seconds, Kamijou-san today will be a little violent," said Touma with a crooked smile.

The hoodie sighed.

"Right. Let's see…where should I start…"

John Smith brought out a notebook from inside his hoodie and flipped through it. "Ah, that's a nice starting point."

The hoodie closed his notebook and smirked. "Have you ever wondered some things about espers?"

"Well, I do that all the time. Like, how can you change vectors, or spit electric bolts from your bangs…"

"No, no, not of their existence. Their being esper is quite explainable. I mean about espers' locations. Have you ever wondered why all espers are in Academy City?"

Touma listened. John went on.

"The espers' power comes from their DNA map. In other words, some people just don't have what it takes to become an esper. There has been no reported case of a level 0 becoming an esper…well, aside from level upper, but that's utilizing the AIM diffusion field and making it _look_ like one acquired power."

"Get to the point."

John sighed. "You're dumb, aren't you."

Without letting Kamijou talk back, John continued. "I'm saying that people are born to be decided whether they are espers or not. It's not related to their presence in Academy City or not."

"You know, that really doesn't mean any…"

Touma stopped.

"You're getting it now," said John, as he took off the hat of the hoodie, revealing his grayish hair. "Don't you get it? This means that the fact that Academy City exist doesn't have anything to do with power presence. Put simply…"

"…Espers can exist outside Academy City."

Why hasn't he realized? It was all there for Touma to see. It was so obvious. Academy City is just an island-sized facility where espers learn how to properly use their powers.

John continued, leaving Touma in despair. "Also, haven't you realized it yet? Only youngsters have abilities. Why do adults have no power at all? After all, ESP study came long before the birth of Academy City. Doesn't this seem illogical?"

Touma twitched at the second epiphany.

"Meaning, there are adult espers too. They're just not there for you to see because their personal realities changed as they grew up. They began to think that they were no longer espers, and the body responded to that reality. However, not all adult espers thought that way. They trained harder and harder, becoming stronger than ever."

Touma looked at John, swallowing his saliva and clenching his fist.

"Simply said, I'm one of those adult espers outside the Academy City. Moreover, I'm pretty strong, so Alex don't want me to come in."

"Alex…?"

"Ah, right. He goes by Aleister Crowley now, doesn't he?"

Tsuchimikado twitched.

John looked at the ceiling and continued. "If I'm not wrong, he's a level 5. Hey, kid, is there a level five whose name wasn't mentioned yet?"

Touma looked at John with disbelief. "You mean…number six is Aleister Crowley?"

"Oh, so you know him too? Funny. I though he wasn't the type to spread his name cards around."

"I don't know him. You just told me."

"Oh, right," said John. He scratched his neck and sighed.

"If you're so powerful that you can threaten the number six level five, that means you are a level five yourself, right?" asked Touma.

Tsuchimikado sighed. "No, he's not."

Touma looked at Tsuchimikado. "He's not?"

"Hey, kid," said John. Touma turned back to him. "Have you heard of level 6 shift project?"

Touma shivered. That was the project involving the death of over ten thousand lives of Sisters. There's no way he could ever forget about it.

"…Yeah, I know."

"It seems like that was a project meant to create a weapon that could stand toe-to-toe with me. Well, you stopped it in the end, so nothing went on place though."

"…What do you mean?"

"He is where Aleister got the idea of achieving level six came from," said Tsuchimikado. "After all, he was the first to achieve level six. Tree Diagram couldn't find him, so he was not put into its calculation, but he has already achieved level six."

Touma's eyes narrowed. "Him? Level six?"

"Nope," said John with a smirk. "I'm level seven."


	2. 2 Level 7

Silence fell.

A looooooong silence.

There was a lot Kamijou wanted to ask to this hoodie—John Smith, whatever—but Touma was right now unable to weave his words in his mouth.

"O…kay…." Touma finally said. "First of all, you're obviously not an adult."

"Oh, this?" said John. "This is one of my vessels. Right now, my other nine vessels are roaming around the Academy City, looking for Nunotaba."

"Nunotaba, Nunotaba…why do you keep calling Accelerator Nunotaba?"

"Well, I didn't exactly know his _other _name. After all, I've never seen him after he was given birth. By then, his sister was two or three."

"Now that you know it, just say Accelerator! It confuses—" Kamijou stopped. "Wait, sister?"

"Yeah, I guess you're right. I'll call him Accelerator from now on—"

"No, no, not that. What was that about Accelerator having sister?"

"Oh, you didn't know? He has an elder sister." John stretched. "Now then, back to the subject—"

"DON'T SHRUG OFF A MAJOR SPOILER LIKE IT'S JUST AN ADVERTISEMENT! What's her name? If Accelerator has an elder sister, why didn't he say anything? She might be in trouble or something!"

John clicked his tongue. "You're persistent, aren't you. Oh fine, I'll tell you another candidate for your harem."

"Who's harem—"

"Her name's Nunotaba Shinobu," cut John. "She has power to kill on touch, although she stopped using her power after killing her parents with her power. She seemed to have connection in the Radio Noise Project since she was a talented researcher. I taught her about the ways my vessels communicate each other. Ah, how did she call it, Tsuchimikado?"

Touma turned to see the Hawaiian-shirt whose existence was amazingly diminished upon level seven's announcement.

"MISAKA Network," said Tsuchimikado, unbeknownst of Touma's thought.

"Ah, that's right. MISAKA Network." John sighed and looked at Touma. "So, _now_ can we talk about the issue?"

Touma gulped. He didn't think Accelerator that kind of history. Touma wanted to ask more about Accelerator, but, for the time being, kept his curiosity so that he could listen to what _else_ this level seven had to say that was more urgent than this.

"Go on."

"Finally." John cleared his throat. "I'm here to teach Accelerator."

"Teach him? He's the number one esper in Academy City!"

"What good did that do to him, though?" said John. "He just keeps losing and losing people around him. He has fought to kill all his life that he doesn't know how to use his power to protect. He just thinks protecting and killing are a sheet of paper different. They aren't."

John flapped his hoodie, as if feeling hot. "Don't you have something to drink? Get something, Tsuchimikado."

Tsuchimikado surprisingly obliged without much rejection. Touma at first wondered why, but it occurred to him—even Tsuchimikado could be a little eerie of the things John was saying. Last thing an information broker would want is losing the ability to listen to his source of information just because of a glass of water.

"Thanks," said John. He gulped down and continued. "As I was saying, I want to teach him how to use his powers…properly. That's one reason I'm here. Another would be…yeah, to teach you."

"Me?" said Touma. That was unexpected. "An esper is going to teach me how to use _my_ powers?"

"You really don't remember a thing, do you."

Touma almost growled. "You don't have to mention that every single time."

"I mean, don't you even get fragments? Your meeting me was a pretty big moment in your life."

"That's just being cocky."

"Yeah? I was going to tell you how you and my original body met, but if you say that, I guess I have no choice."

That didn't sound good.

"…Please tell me…"

"Huh? What was that? I-can't-hear-you," said John with a hand in his ear.

Touma clenched his teeth and yelled. "Please tell me, John-sama!"

"No," said John immediately.

Touma stood up. "I'm leaving. My room is conveniently right beside me, so no need to escort me. Bye."

Tsuchimikado clicked his tongue. "Wait, Kami-yan."

Touma turned, with one hand in the handle of the door.

"He is the best one when it comes to teaching. If you leave now, you'll regret it indefinitely."

Touma shook his head. "I had enough of this." He opened the door and tried to leave.

"Do you want to save people?"

Touma stopped. It was John who spoke. "I can handle that much on this part, thank you," said Touma.

"Really? Then why weren't you able to stop Fiamma when you first met him? You encountered him several more times and fought him for long time before you finally beat him to ground. If you finished him off when you could, you wouldn't have had to let your friends go through mess. Moreover, you're weak, so you always end up in hospital. You always worry people. You think you're the hero, and refuse help from others, but you're really nothing more than a high-school boy."

Touma clenched his fist. He couldn't take it anymore. Usually, he was calm and respectful to others, but now, every word this man said was irritating to Touma. He walked, a little rapidly, into the room, and swung his fist.

Then, John smirked a little.

John dodged Touma's right hand and grabbed the wrist. He kicked Touma's left leg and made Touma fall on his knees. Before Touma could react, John twisted Touma's arm and kicked his shoulder, dislocating it.

"Ahhhhhhhh!" yelled Touma.

"Sorry," said John, "but I just didn't want you to use your right hand now."

Before Touma could ask what John meant, everything went black.

* * *

Accelerator…or Nunotaba, felt uneasy.

Since morning, he felt his power getting _pressured_ greatly. He couldn't describe it that well, but because of that, he had skipped that day's work and stayed home the entire day.

'That damn brat isn't here yet?' thought Accelerator. He then clicked his tongue and rolled in the couch to sleep.

Suddenly, someone knocked on the door.

'Someone get the door…or not. Aiho's out, that brat has gone somewhere, so has Worst, and Kikyou…she said she'll be shopping, hasn't she.'

With great distaste, Accelerator raised his body and, by almost dragging his legs, approached and opened the door.

"Who is it?" said Accelerator, clearly bored.

"Heya," said a boy in a gray hoodie. "Came to pick you up, Nunotaba."

Accelerator closed the door immediately.

"Ah! Come on! Nunotaba! Open up! Fine, I'll call you by Accelerator! Actually, it's kind of pain in the ass to call you by that long name, so I'll just call you Accel! Oi Accel! Don't ignore me! Come on, don't make me break in!"

Accelerator hesitated whether he should turn on his powers and block off the sound.

"That'll make things troublesome when I _do_ need my power…"

Accelerator clicked his tongues. "Goddammit."

He turned and opened the door again. "Tell me in three seconds why you're here or I'll break your every bone and pack you up home."

"Charming as ever," said John with a frown. "Well, if you decide to go by force, I can have my way."

"Three."

John smirked. "Fine. I'm here to talk."

"Not interested. Leave in two seconds. Two."

"It's about your sister."

Accelerator stopped counting.

"Don't you want to know about her whereabouts?"

"…I couldn't care less about that bitch."

He shouldn't have said that.

John's face got a little stern. "Accel-chan, that's a little rude."

Accel-chan got his hands on his choker and turned his power on…or tried to, except that when he tried to manipulate air and throw this guy out like a dump, his power didn't manifest itself.

"Hah?"

He checked the choker. Nothing was wrong. He was, at the moment, the most dangerous being in the whole Academy City.

"What—"

Before he could say anything, John took off his shoes and entered the house, pushing Accelerator aside.

_Pushing_ him aside.

'My power…is not working?'

"Turn off your choker. You need that for troublesome situations, right?"

Accelerator growled, but he knew that John was right. Accelerator turned off his choker and stared without word at the pretty polite intruder.

"Who the hell are you?" said Accelerator, refraining from using harsher words than that. John smirked and opened the fridge. "I'm sorry for Aiho, but I haven't had a thing since lunch and it's already nightfall, so just let me get some milk."

"Answer me, you lowlife."

"The two of you are charming as ever, eh?" said John, remembering a certain high school boy. "Sit, I'll tell you everything you want to know. But before that…"

As if pressing a button, John pressed his temple for a while. "Ah, that's better. Now I can continue keeping off Alex from watching me."

When Accelerator tried to say something again, John raised his hand and said, "First of all, just call me John Smith. I was a relative of your father. I researched AIM diffusion field just like him."

"…I don't remember a thing about him."

"That's sad." John gulped down the milk and continued with a little somber face, "He was an excellent father."

Accelerator sat on the sofa. John sat at the opposite end and put his milk on the table.

So, John explained again, about the outsider espers, about adult espers, about his vessels, about number six…everything except his level. He purposefully didn't mention anything about his being level 7.

"Now then, I'm here to teach you how to use your powers properly."

"…What the fu** are you talking about?" said Accelerator.

"You don't even know the real measure of your strength yet, or the exact way your personal reality works. If you don't know even who you are, how the hell are you going to fight from now on?"

"I've never lost—"Accelerator stopped, clicked his tongue, and continued. "I've _almost_ never lost 'til now. I don't need a lowlife's help."

John's face got a little irritated. "I know that it's been a while since you and I've met, and that you don't have a 'proper' memory of me, but if you keep calling your dad's friend lowlife, I'll be a little mean to you."

Accelerator twitched. Was this guy being serious? He was the unbeatable number one. He couldn't be beaten by anyone…well, except a certain level 0, that is. Still, he could win anyone if he tried to. He could make a sun in his palms, throw bulks away with a touch of his foot, terra-form the Earth with a single touch. Yet, here was a guy who asked above said monster to be respectful to him just because he knew his father.

"Well, that's a little hurtful," said John, who was reading Accelerator's thoughts.

"Tch. You'd better get off my head before things get out of hand, old man."

"Thanks, but no thanks."

Without letting Accelerator talk back, John continued. "Putting that aside, your power is not vector manipulation."

Accelerator _couldn't_ talk back to the revelation. He just looked at John with wide eyes, urging him to continue.

"Well, to be exact, your power is not _just_ vector manipulation. You'd have noticed, but when you awaken, you can control vectors without needing to touch."

John reached for the milk, but Accelerator slapped his hand. John looked at Accelerator with pleading eyes, but Accelerator didn't let down. After a sigh, John lay back into the sofa. "But, doesn't this sound a little odd? Why call it _vector manipulation_ when you can simply call it _psychokinesis_? Answer is simple. Vector manipulation is just an aspect of your power. Your real power is simple enough."

Accelerator gulped. He hasn't noticed it, but he was infinitely curious on what this man had to say next. When John spoke on, Accelerator froze.

"It's Manipulation."

* * *

"Haven't you felt it odd? You've been saying that you're changing the vectors of the energy, but in fact it was no different from manipulation. You can easily switch the direction of the power by manipulating the direction of the hand, not necessarily the vector. You just had in your mind, _other way around_, making it seem like you were controlling vector."

"What do you have for evidence?" said Accelerator, suddenly quite respectful.

John smirked. "First, we have Kihara. He countered your power by pulling off from your skin at the last moment. He also countered your air by altering the vector of the air."

"Then, it makes sense if—"

"But," cut John, "Kihara was changing only a fraction of the vector in the altering air case. Physically speaking, it's impossible to get rid of a gust of air by just whistling. Same is true about reverse punch method. If his arm was getting reversed, his shoulder should've dislocated several times over. However, nothing of the sort happened, or did it?"

Accelerator listened.

"You were _thinking_ that you were changing vectors, so when Kihara punched you, he was only getting accelerated and not harmed. In fact, what was happening was that your body was manipulating Kihara's muscle system and making him punch frontward, and not backward. That way, Kihara's shoulder didn't get dislocated because your power was strengthening Kihara's muscle. Well, in that sense, he wasn't wrong in calling you masochist."

Before Accelerator could object, John spoke on. "Next is in Amai Ao's bullet that you manipulated in the last-minute. In that case, you were in life-death situation. Because of that, you awakened for a split second and your body manipulated the bullet itself although it was no longer touching your skin, deflecting the bullet. As I said earlier, all you thought about was 'other way around', so it's pretty easy mistake in thinking that you were manipulating vector."

Accelerator listened.

"Simply said, you can control vectors because you can control everything. However, it's time you learned how to use your power properly."

"I _am_ using my powers properly. I can create a sun in my palms."

"How long does it take for you to do that? I'd say about 0.3 to 0.5 seconds. You always need to calculate before you use your power."

"But I cannot manipulate vector without calculating."

"You're really a simpleton, aren't you?" said John. Without letting Accelerator answer, he said, "I said that your power is not just vector manipulation. You can manipulate anything with a touch. That means you can control the _direction_ of the vector. That way's much simpler, right?"

"…I don't get it."

John sighed. "I'll show you. Let's take a walk."

Accelerator twitched. "Oy, what do you mean by _show_ me? You are not someone with my power to begin with."

"Not yet," said John, with his usual smirk, "but I'll soon be."


	3. 3 Imagine Breaker Breaker

And so, Accelerator was back to the familiar place with lots of container boxes.

"Lots of memories?" said John suppressing his laughter.

Accelerator didn't answer. Indeed, he had lots of memories of the place, but nothing good. This was where he was first beaten by his level 0 rival.

"...Not the memories I'd like to remember, anyway."

"Well, you say that, but this is the place where you awakened your senses as a masochist. Must be pretty meaningful."

Accelerator growled and lunged at John, reaching his hands for the button on the choker. However, his feet suddenly didn't listen to him, and fell face first to the ground.

"Just kidding with you. Chill. I know you are a lolicon...or not. You've added Worst-chan to your SISTERS collection, so is it still masochist?" John laughed with his hands on his tummy.

"I swear that I'll kill you someday."

"Looking forward," said John, calming down from the laughter. He released Accelerator's body and smiled good-naturedly.

"Well then, let's start our decisive battle...I mean training."

* * *

"Oi, you, wake up already."

Kamijou grunted. He unconsciously reached for the source of the voice, expecting an alarm...except that when he did, he felt a sharp pain, which made him completely awake.

"Ow..." Touma grunted. He slowly opened his eyes and found a familiar person who he'd run into that morning.

"Misaka...?"

The owner of the name smiled. She looked paled for some reason. But the next moment, her face brightened and she distanced a little from Touma, her arms crossed.

"Y-you shouldn't run off to trouble like that. I seriously thought you were going to die when I found you."

Touma looked at his shoulder. It's been relocated, but he still had bandages on.

Then, he remembered everything.

"That bastard! Where is he!"

Misaka jolted and looked at him. "He? Who is he?"

Without answering Misaka, Touma started getting up. Misaka's eyes widened and supported him. "Oi, you can't force yourself. You had a serious fracture in your bones. The doctor had trouble fixing you."

"The doctor?" asked Touma. "Wait, do you mean the frog-faced doctor?"

"Ah, you know him? Yeah. He was persistent in doing the surgery himself for some reason." Misaka relaxed Touma's shoulder and pushed him back down, making him grunt a little.

"Then...I'm in the hospital again?"

"Yeah," said Misaka. "He also said that he wanted you to stop using your right arm since otherwise it's going to harm your nerves."

Touma clicked his tongue. Misaka, genuinely surprised and almost afraid of how Touma was now, slowly asked him, "So...who is your enemy 'this' time?"

In an aggressive attitude, he answered, "John Smith."

Silence fell.

"...Oi you, I'm not very generous to liars, especially the easily seen ones."

Touma, realizing where Misaka's misunderstanding came from, shook his left hand and yelled. "No, no! I don't know his real name, but that's how he called himself!"

"...You'd better be telling the truth."

"Every word!" said Touma with a forced smile.

"Then fine," said Misaka with an unconvinced face. "So, who is this 'John Smith'? Is he also one of GREMLIN?"

"No, he's from the science side, but he's from outside Academy City and he is an adult who uses vessels of a boy. He is a level 7 esper."

Silence didn't fall this time. Sound of electricity crackling filled the room.

"No! No! I'm not lying!"

Misaka, not listening to him, spat high-bolt electricity at his right arm.

Then, both Touma and Misaka stunned at what happened.

Touma yelled "Yeaghraicha!"

His right arm has power to negate all powers. That way, Touma won in his battles with Misaka countless times, although she was the number three esper in Academy City.

But, right now, that power was gone.

Right now, Touma was just a simple level 0 without power.

"What...happened?" said Misaka, before realizing that the person in front of her had fainted. She smiled awkwardly and ran off to call the frog-faced doctor.

* * *

"First of all, I want you to make a sun," said John.

Accelerator twitched. "Oi, are you serious?"

"Go ahead. I can take care of myself."

Accelerator, a little reluctantly, approached his hands to the choker, but stopped mid-way. "You aren't going to stop my powers somehow this time, I hope."

"Course not."

Accelerator thought for a second. If he could use his powers, he could easily wipe the existence in front of him. Should he kill John or not was the question.

John sighed. "I can hear you. Also, that's not going to work."

Accelerator clicked his tongue. "Fine."

He turned on the choker and raised his arms. Air around him started to ripple. In a moment, the whole place was ravishing with wind.

About three meters above Accelerator, green plasma started to appear. Accelerator repelled the heat using his power and concentrated.

"So, about ten seconds? That's slow."

Accelerator was about to throw his sun at the annoying hoodie before John spoke on.

"Listen, Accel-chan. You need to find a way to most efficiently use your power. If you calculate all the vectors of the air, it's going to burst your head. However, if you manipulate all the directions of the vectors, you won't have to deal with all those calculations."

John pressed his temples and held that posture for a while. He then pointed three meters above _him_.

Then, all the ripples of the air headed to that direction.

In a blink of an eye, a collection of wind far stronger than Accelerators replaced his. Then, almost at the same time, a new green plasma started to manifest.

"You're...kidding..."

The plasma grew bigger and bigger. In a while, the plasma Accelerator created got sucked into John's.

"Goddammit!" Accelerator raised both of his hands and lengthened the vector of the wind even farther. However, the air didn't collide above him. Instead, John's sun got even bigger and started melting the container boxes around it.

"Tch," said John. He wavered his fingers and calmed down the air.

Accelerator, without turning off his choker, fell to his knees, his eyes widened and his arms powerless.

"What…was…that…?"

John smirked. He pressed his temple and said, "That was my using your personal reality. I simply thought, 'all the air, go there' and it happened. It isn't as complicated as you think. You can try it out if you want to, but for today, I've gotta take my leave."

Accelerator twitched. "Now? Where?"

"I've gotta go give my other student back his gift. I feel bad for having held it too long."

Accelerator stood up.

"Well, then, I'll see you around. Turn your choker off by the way."

John turned around and walked towards the exit.

"Teach me…"

John stopped. "Huh?" He turned with a little surprised face. "Teach you what? I've already taught you that you can control much more than just vectors. You're smart, so you can go from there, right?"

Accelerator shook his head. He turned off his choker and slowly lowered his head. He was _bowing_ _down_. John, with a surprised look, stared at Accelerator.

"You're a far better esper than I am. I need your help. I don't want to lose anyone anymore.

John just stared at him with a surprised look.

Was he going to teach him more? Did he have to go this far? He hated bowing down. He didn't _need_ to bow down. He was the number one. He was the strongest. He was the almighty.

And yet, why was he bowing down?

'None of that matters if I cannot save a goddamn brat!'

Accelerator yelled.

"PLEASE HELP ME PROTECT PEOPLE AROUND ME!"

Silence fell.

John sighed. "You don't have to be that respectful. I almost feel bad for what I did."

Accelerator twitched and looked up. "That means…"

"Fine, I'll teach you all applications of your power that I know of."

And, for the second time, a warm smile covered the face of the monster.

* * *

Level 7.

The idea still rang in Touma's mind.

He knew he was not a trivial fighter. He knew that he was a strong esper, and must've had enough power to beat perhaps even the Almighty Thor and the Magic God.

Then, why didn't he do it himself?

No, that wasn't the question Touma had.

"Why did he take my power…?"

Rather, how was it possible for him to take his power? Almost nothing is known about his right hand, the imagine breaker, but he had never heard of someone taking someone else's power.

Then again, he knew absolutely nothing about his right arm's power besides the fact that it could negate another power—an imagination.

Touma twitched. He could move his body again. Under his right hand was a girl's head.

Misaka Mikoto.

She was sound asleep after nursing him for almost the entire night.

After smiling a little, Touma softly stood from his bed and took off all the syringes from his right shoulder.

"I have to find him…"

John Smith. That was obviously not his real name, but if he was a level 7, he could've magically—or scientifically—taken his power. He could've even cut off his entire arm and replace it with artificial arm.

Just to clarify the point, Touma swung his shoulder. It still ached a little, but it was real.

Before heading out, he checked Misaka again and slowly covered a blanket on her.

"Good night, biribiri."

Then, with a stern face, Touma turned. It was time to meet the level 7.

* * *

"KAMI-YAN!" yelled Tsuchimikado, who stunned by Touma's physique.

"Sup, Tsuchimikado." Touma said with a smirk, although he was a little eerie that Tsuchimikado was unhurt despite his having fractured a shoulder.

"You have to keep restin', man! He wanted you to keep in touch with you! If you're here, he can't find you!"

"So, he's also looking for me?"

Touma clenched his teeth. "Where is he?"

"Sorry, Kami-yan. I have no idea. I'd tell you if I—"

"Cut the bullshit, Tsuchimikado," said Touma. "I want to talk—no, I need to talk to him."

Tsuchimikado, with a stern expression, crossed his head. "I cannot tell you."

Touma growled. "HE IS THE ONLY ONE WHO KNOWS ABOUT MY POWER! I need to listen to him right now!"

"That's why you need to stay in the hospital. You cannot use your power yet so…" Tsuchimikado bit his lips.

Silence fell.

"How did you know that?" said Touma.

Tsuchimikado didn't answer.

"Tsuchimikado, I'm asking you. How did you know that my power wasn't working?"

"Kami-yan…"

"ANSWER ME!" yelled Touma.

"Sheesh, you are energetic so late in the day, aren't you," said a familiar irritating voice from behind Kamijou. Without even turning around, Touma could tell who it was.

"You…are late."

"Sorry, had to give some supplementary classes to Accel-chan," said John, smiling in such a fascinating way it irritated Touma even further.

"With the worst possible definition of death, I want you to die."

Tsuchimikado twitched. Did Touma just say that?

John clicked his tongue. "I expected you to return, but didn't expect you to be this hostile in such a short amount of time. Taking the gift was a bad idea after all."

"Shut the fu** up."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." John waved his left arm and felt his shoulder. "I guess that makes it about level 4. Oi, stay where you are."

"I'm not taking any orders from you, asshole."

Without answering to that swear, John quickly approached Touma and grabbed his face. He, despite having fractured his shoulder, kicked his arm again.

"Ahhhhhhhhh!"

"Sorry kid," said John. He pressed his temple and grabbed his right hand with his left.

"I'M GOING TO GIVE YOU SLOW AND PAINFUL DEATH! YOU BASTARD!"

"Calm down, kid," said John. "Still feel like cursing me?"

"Of course, you…" Touma stopped.

Silence fell.

"Well, that was easy," said John, wiping his sweat off contrary to his claim. "First, let me fix that shoulder of yours."

John pressed his temple and touched his shoulder, However, Touma didn't cry—he just twitched.

John froze.

Touma, without a word, looked at John. "Funny. You regenerated," said John, who was still staring at the right arm.

"Ah…yeah, that happened before. My right arm regenerates quickly."

"Is that so? You sound like you've experienced this before."

Touma twitched. "Yeah…during World War Three, there was a time my entire right arm regrew."

"Yeah, I know."

Silence fell.

"Are you still feeling hostile?" asked John.

Touma looked at John with a stern face. "Please tell me about my right hand."

John laughed. "I was waiting for you to say that." John waved at Tsuchimikado, who suddenly twitched and turned to return to his room.

"Oi…don't tell me…"

"Yeah, I just said I didn't want to tell you because Tsuchimikado was there. I wouldn't want to trust Tsuchimikado with my knowledge, you know."

"Especially with information about the imagine breaker?" said Touma with a smile.

"I like you with my power better," said John. "Come on, let's go take a walk."

"Yeah, sure…" Touma stopped. "Wait, what?"

"I said, let's take a walk. I'll teach you—"

"No, no. Before that. What was that about my having your power?"

John smirked. "You don't remember a thing, really."

Touma didn't get irritated this time. "Is Imagine Breaker not my power? I thought my right hand was closer to that of magic side than science side!"

"Not really. It's as scientific as it is magical." John scratched his head. "Well…let's just go take a walk first."

"No! Speak now!"

John sighed. "I hate impulsive guys. Fine. I'll talk."

Touma gulped.

John opened Touma's room's door and entered it. "Come in."

"…That's my room. Don't act like it's yours."

"Fine. Can I come in?"

"Go ahead."

John took off his shoes and entered the room. He sat on the floor and relaxed. Touma also came in and sat on his bed.

"First of all, I _stole_ your imagine breaker for a short while so that I could speed up your leveling up."

"Leveling up? I'm a level 0!"

"Because your power cannot be measured through level measurement device. It's a different story if there is another way of measuring power."

Touma listened.

John cleared his throat. "I was a level rater."

"Whoa."

"Since I was gone, there was no way to measure the level of power besides by…well, today's methods."

"So, who made that new method?"

"Aleister Crowley," said John.

"The number six?"

"Yeah. Still, he's not _yet_ your concern." John looked at the ceiling. "Before I turned into level six and left Academy City…or rather, its foundation, I was the number one level five. Can you guess of what?"

Touma didn't answer. However, he already knew the answer.

"I was a level 5 Imagine Breaker."


	4. 4 Imagine Destroyer

Imagine Destroyer.

It was a title given to a single person in the history.

When Imagine Breaker reaches beyond the user's whole body, it expands its range of negation little by little. However, this takes such a long time that the best any Imagine Breakers had been three meters beyond the user.

However, the Imagine Destroyer went beyond the idea of negating and went for the idea of destroying.

By becoming Imagine Destroyer, all magicians and espers got eradicated.

For over a decade, there was no need for facilities like Academy City or organizations like God's Right Seat to come into existence—because there was simply no one to join.

Imagine Destroyer destroyed all personal realities.

In other words, it made them ordinary.

Into level 0.

Into ordinary humans.

Into the real world.

* * *

"You...what?"

"I gave you my power because I wanted to save you."

"Save me?"

John sighed. "I was a friend of your parents," said John. "However, you weren't going to survive for even three days."

"Three...what?"

"So, I gave up my ownership of the Imagine Breaker. However, I unleashed my original power and became level 6."

"Woah, woah! Slow down! Can you please start from the beginning!"

John stood up and stretched. "Well...I suppose I can do that too."

He got out the notebook from before and flipped through it. "Ah, that's a good place to start," said John.

Touma sat properly on the bed. John sat on the opposite side and smiled.

"Have you ever wondered why you were so unlucky?"

That was a little straightforward. "Uh...because I apparently negate God's graces?"

John laughed. "Who gave you that idea?"

Touma scratched his head. "Well...that's the only explanation I've gotten so far."

John looked at the ceiling. "You see, you were an anomaly. No one ever expected someone like you to be born."

"Why?"

"From your birth, you were a level 5."

Silence fell.

"...Level 5 what?" asked Touma.

"Level 5 energy manipulator. You were given the epithet Accelerator because you could create and destroy energies. You were a serious anomaly to physical laws."

"...I was the Accelerator?"

"Yeah. Since you were a strong existence, when your power disappeared, I replaced you with someone who had a vaguely similar power with you."

"The current Accelerator?"

"Yeah. Still, it wasn't until he was a level 5 he inherited that name." John looked at Touma.

"Wait...if I was a level 5, what was that endangered my life?"

John smirked. "Good question."

John paused, making Touma more anxious.

"You were a magic God."

Silence fell.

"You were, on top of having a power that could destroy the world's balance, a magician. You had an amazing potential. From your birth, everything you said became reality. Your words were so holy that you inherited the power and right hand of God."

"Right hand of God?"

"You've battled Fiamma. You know what I'm talking about."

Fiamma's third arm, the so-called omnipotent wishing machine, was, although incomplete, capable of destroying the world. If the power was completed...Touma didn't even want to imagine its destructiveness.

"So...because I was both a strong magician and an esper, I got as short a lifespan as three days?"

"Yep."

Touma looked at his right hand. "I...I'm sorry. I just forgot everything and...I even forgot about my life-saver."

"Nah, no need to thank me. I just had debts to your parents. Thank them and not me."

Touma smiled. This guy wasn't that bad after all.

"So, I gave you my Imagine Destroyer and sealed off your right arm. Still, I couldn't destroy it permanently, so I kept it in you. That way, your powers slowly got deleted."

Touma narrowed his eyes.

John frowned. "What?"

"This has been bugging me for a while...but why do you call my power Imagine Destroyer? I thought it was just Imagine Breaker."

John smiled. "I thought you'd never ask."

* * *

"I'm terribly sorry," said an old asian with a black spiky head. "I didn't want you to go through this."

"Nah, I'll be fine," said a gray-haired man, probably in his thirties.

Although the man said it very cheerfully, the young couple still didn't look reassured. "How could we ever repay you of this?"

"Just give me your wonderful dinner every now and then. Besides, I owe you enough for her."

The couple smiled painfully. "We wish you good luck."

"Oi oi, who do you think I am?"

John smiled once more reassuringly. "Don't worry. I'll be fine. Pray for your brave kid."

The couple bowed to him. John did likewise and showed his reassuring smile again. With a stern look, the number one entered the sealed room.

In the middle of the gray, burnt-up room was a baby. He, with blood ticking off his mouth, was staring blankly at the ceiling.

"Heya, kid," said the Imagine Destroyer, catching his breath from the immense pressure of power. The baby looked at John blankly, as if wondering why he hasn't burst up.

"Yeah, I negate stuff. Pretty handy huh."

The baby opened his eyes wider. John gasped, but soon smiled.

"Like I said, It's not going to work."

The baby closed his eyes. The room started to crumble. He was destroying the potential energy of the things around him, leaving only the kinetic. It would be alarming to see walls flying all around the place.

A sweat drop tickled down John's face. "Oi oi, are you serious?"

John touched the floor and concentrated. His Imagine Breaker expanded little by little, swallowing up the room. The room soon stopped trembling, but John's face didn't look any better.

"This is tough work…" muttered John. He slowly dragged his feet towards the baby.

The room started to tremor again. John's smile slowly melted away. He bit his lips almost to the point that he was bleeding out. His eyes were blood-shot and his fists were clenched.

"This is really a tough work…" said John under his breath.

The baby slowly turned to John. And, although the baby was only about few hours old, started to rise on his feet.

"Let me help you, kid," said John, slowly smiling again. However, the baby suddenly opened his eyes widely.

The very presence of the number one was diminishing. It was as if his power was useless against the one in front of him.

"Calm down, man!" yelled John. He dragged another step towards the baby.

The pressure intensified. The baby raised his hands and swung his right hand in front of John.

John started to cough blood.

"Oi oi…are you for real?!" yelled John, wiping the blood away. He jumped and grabbed the right hand of God.

The baby started crying. However, it wasn't a toddle like all the other babies. It was a scream of the depths of hell. John, from just hearing the yelling, felt a chill flow through his back.

However, John didn't let go.

With his Imagine Breaker at utmost capacity, he could not only negate the imaginations two meters around him, but also permanently erase the power with a touch of his left hand.

That's why he was the Imagine Destroyer.

However, right now, his left hand was grabbing the hand of God.

It wasn't something as trivial as making espers into level 0.

It wasn't something as trivial as making magicians into humans.

It was to destroy a Superior Being.

Could he destroy God?

He didn't know.

The question was in whether God was an imagination of mankind or not.

No, that's not it.

The question was whether he, a mere human, could negate a being far above him.

It was as worse as fighting a level above him.

"This is scary…" muttered John. He knew by heart that he couldn't negate this being in front of him.

Then the choice was obvious.

"Imagine Breaker," muttered John. The baby, realizing what the human was trying to do, started to yell the depths of hell louder.

"Imagine Breaker," continued John, "I give up my ownership of you. Please protect this boy."

Starting from the right bottom of John's foot, his skin began to crumble, as if it was rotting.

As Imagine Breaker was leaving his body from the farthest from his left arm, his body was experiencing the power of the one in front of him without Imagine Breaker's protection.

However, despite all that, John smiled.

"You're going to have it rough, kid," said John. "Because of your status as a Magic God, you will have many hardships. Some may be light, some may be fierce."

John's right leg was almost completely rotten and his right hand started to rot.

"However, that's not because it's a punishment. It's because you're a symbol of hope to humanity. You will become a salvation to them."

John's left leg started to rot.

"Still, now that all your powers are to be sealed permanently, you are going to have to rely on your own arms and legs to survive through those hardships. However, God is not as unforgiving."

John's face started to age.

"You're going to be unlucky on normal occasions, kid. But that's to be lucky when you need luck. Trust me, with that power of mine, you're going to need some luck."

John's eye started bleeding. With his tongue paralyzed, John couldn't speak more. However, before he was completely muted, he said one last thing.

"Such misfortune…"

The baby's bright red eyes began to die down. John's body was almost completely rotted, except for his left hand, which had touched the hand of the God.

The baby slowly came down to the bed, as if the Almighty himself was belittling into the Earth to save us all.

And, amidst all that, there was _John_ bowing down before him.

* * *

The Kamijous entered the room when it died down and found John in a near-death situation.

They took John to the frog-faced doctor, who had announced him as vegetable. However, he was proven wrong when he woke up the next day, clear of all injuries.

The Kamijous thanked John for what he did, but John denied the appreciation and left the hospital the next day.

That day, the number one became son of the Nunotabas, with the epithet _Accelerator._

The Kamijous asked John to name the newborn baby, and for that, he chose a befitting name.

Touma.

Although the kanji was different, it also meant _invisible demon._

It was, indeed, a perfect definition of him.

Thus, the invisible demon who is above the superior became the one who cleanses the superior and exorcises demons.

That day, Kamijou Touma was born.

* * *

"I don't believe you," said Touma.

"Do you now?"

"It was enough that I was a level 5 _and_ a Magic God, but I was an actual God? It's not something you can go with no questions.."

"Yeah. I agree. You're not God. You just have His right hands and power. Nothing to worry about."

Touma sighed. "Okay, I'll believe you for now."

John smirked. "That makes things easier."

He stood up.

"Where are you going?" asked Touma.

"Out," said John. "It's time to train you."

"So…what are we doing here?"

It was the same old place with container boxes. The place looked even more deserted. Several of the container boxes were crushed, there were craters here and there and the air was heavier than usual.

"What happened here?" asked Touma.

"I told you," said John, "I had some supplementary lessons with Accel-chan."

"Oh."

John stretched his arm and walked to opposite side to Touma.

"Well, then," said John, turning around and facing Touma, "Shall we begin?"

Touma clenched his fist.

John frowned. "Why are you clenching your fist?"

Touma's face wrinkled. "Ah…I thought we were going to train."

"Yeah, but I didn't say anything about my having to fight with you."

Touma's fist opened. He scratched the back of his head and smiled in an awkward way.

"Okay, so I'll first tell you what your power on top shape could do," said John. "First of all, you've gotta spread the Imagine Breaker all over your body and go over that and negate far from your body…like two meters.

"Hah?" said Touma.

"Like I said, you've gotta negate any imagination two meters away—"

"Wait, wait. I'm not a level 5 by proxy. How do I do that? I mean, I spread my power just over my shoulder over the long course of my existence. How can I spread it even further and cover my whole body and two meters away from me?"

John smirked. "Not easy, I'll give you that." John stretched his back by twisting left and right. "The method is quite simple. You just have to use it many times. That way, your body will synchronize to the Imagine Breaker."

"So…we're still fighting, right?"

"I'm surprised that you're so eager to fight. I thought you were the type who dislikes fights."

"I am not stupid enough to kick away the chance to become stronger."

John smirked. "Well said. Still, we're not fighting. You can do that much with Mikoto-chan. Right now, I'm going to teach you how to use your brain."

"Okay."

"First of all, why do you think you don't lose?"

"I lose. Every now and then."

"Yeah, whatever. Why do you think you don't lose?"

John was making Touma irritated again. "Are you doing that on purpose?" murmured Touma. He sighed and answered. "You said I use up my luck during fights so I am unlucky. That's why I win."

"Exactly," said John. "Question—can luck alone defeat all the enemies you're about to face, especially GREMLIN?"

Touma twitched. "I don't think so."

"Exactly again. Then, what do you think you should do to make things easier?"

"…Get stronger?"

"Use your brain, genius," said John, and before Touma answered to that, he continued. "You have to make use of people around you. You've got some strong people in your faction…which you write as faction and read as harem. Anyway, why don't you make use of some of them, if not all? I know you want to protect…or think you should protect Index, but you can use some of Necessarius, Amakusa, Catholic, or heck, even Fiamma of the Right. No one's gonna blame you. If you really want, even I can lend you a help."

Touma shook his head. "No, I have to do things by myself. I can't get someone get involved into my fight."

John's face crumbled. For the first time, Touma felt a chill in his back from John.

"You're not making me any happier by saying that."

John pressed his temples.

The air started to ripple. Touma quickly went to a defensive position.

"You're goddamn weak. You are just a nuisance. Just put down your pride and go make someone do stuff for once. Be dirty and use all tactics and plots you have. Even then, you cannot possibly hope to win."

Touma clenched his teeth. "WHAT'S WRONG WITH TRYING TO SAVE PEOPLE!"

John's face didn't change back. "You are not the only hero in this world. If you wish to do what you want to do, you need people's help. It's not even that the people I'm asking you to rely on are weak. You are just spoiled. You're a hero, but you're just NOT GODDAMN GOOD ENOUGH!"

Touma held his trembling legs back up and looked at John.

"GET DIRTY! GET AS DIRTY AS YOU CAN! BECOME SOMEONE WHO DOES ANYTHING FOR HIS GOAL! THEN AND ONLY THEN CAN YOU BECOME STRONG ENOUGH TO FACE THEM!"

Touma didn't listen and ran towards the level 7.

"Uooooohhhhhhh!"

John's crumbled face returned to his usual, phased face.

"Well, looks like that was effective provocation."

The next moment, Touma felt a lump on his body.

"Now that you've started the fight, let me ask you something," said John, while riding on the high-school boy. "Do you know what my power is?"

Touma swung his right hand at his back, failing to grasp anything. The next moment, he experienced a jolt from the ground.

It was the number one's power.

Touma flew backwards and spat blood. However, before he could relax, the ground beneath him tossed him into the air, where three plasmas were forming.

"Shiiiiitttttttttttttttt!" yelled Touma. He quickly swung his right hand thrice, nullifying the suns.

Before he fell to the ground, however, another round of rush of air blew Touma away. Touma negated the wind at the last second, but he was at least fifty meters above ground level.

However, the wind blew against the gravity and slowed him down.

When he fell to the ground, he saw a green light forming on far end of the empty lot.

It was the laser from the number 4.

Before it disintegrated Touma, he blocked the ray of light and dodged to the side. The ray went on and melted the container box behind him into nothing.

However, before he could relax, Touma felt a zap of electricity.

It was the number 3's power.

All the container boxes started to pressurize itself and form a metal ball in the middle of the sky.

Touma quickly ran towards the level 7. However, he felt a jolt in _his_ body. He was controlling the magnetic wave of Earth, namely, gravity. He was using Misaka's power, but he was not in her league any longer.

The metal ball started to compress itself to form a giant spear.

"That's not good…" murmured Touma with a drop of sweat on his face.

However, the giant spear started to shine. It was as if it was containing the energy around it by use of some extraphysical element.

The Dark Matter.

However, that wasn't the end.

The Dark Matter slowly came down and stood in front of the level 7. He swung his fist once and twice and hit the opposite side of the spear, making it fly towards Touma in an unbelievable speed.

The number 7's power.

And, lastly, Touma's body froze. It was as if he were taken over by a certain power of the number 5.

He couldn't dodge as he watched the spear fly towards him.

However, at the last second, the entire spear disappeared, and high above the sky, the moon had an extra crater.

Touma fell on his knees.

"You…use the power of all the level 5's?"

"Yep," said John, who was suddenly in front of Touma. "In addition to that, I can control pretty much everything that I imagine. Every power I imagine becomes my power. Well, I cannot use more than five simultaneous powers though, in which case I have to recalibrate. Oh, in this case, I was using 2, 3, 5, 7's powers and teleportation."

Touma clenched his teeth. He grabbed John's left shoulder.

"You can't use any of your powers with my Imagine Breaker!" yelled Touma as he waved his left arm towards the level 7.

John smirked. "Now you're getting dirty."

Then, he poked Touma's throat and left shoulder. When he missed John's face by an inch, John immediately laid a knee kick on Touma's chest and flipped him over using a wrestling technique.

"Remember? I was the Imagine Breaker. I had to be tough to fight thug on streets. I'm pretty strong."

Touma lay in the night, looking at the moon with another crater. Shortly after, he felt a sharp pain in his shoulder, throat and chest, making him shrink and cower.

"Cough…cough…"

John smiled apologetically. "Sorry, did that hurt?"

Touma tried to smile and say otherwise, but he couldn't.

John laughed. "You've got guts, buddy. Well then, let me give you a little present."

"What?" said Touma, looking pretty upset now.

"I'll tell you what my power is," said John.

Touma cracked his shoulder and sat properly.

"I weave imagination, so I'm called Imagine Weaver. Nice to meet you."

John…or the Imagine Weaver, smiled at the now-smiling Touma. "Whatever," answered the Imagine Breaker.

That day, Touma had the longest sleep he had in months.


	5. Between the lines

"Hello," said the gray-haired boy.

The room was filled with scientific gadgets and life supports. General color was purple and there were no windows in the room.

"Hello," said the inverted man.

The two stared at each other for a while.

"Why are you here?" asked Aleister. "I thought we had agreements."

"We did have agreements," said John. "However, I don't remember agreeing that I will allow you to kill those youngsters."

Silence fell.

"You did say that you won't interfere with my plan," said Aleister.

"I did," said John, "and that's why I didn't interfere with Level 6 Shift Project, Radio Noise Project, Dark Side, formation of GROUP, SCHOOL, ITEM, Freshman, World War 3, Hawaii, Baggage City, Kihara, Vento of the Front, Acqua of the Back, Kazakiri Hyouka, GREMLIN, Level Upper, England Civil War, Imaginary School District, Index Librorum Prohibitorum, Amakusa, Roman Catholic, Russian Orthodox, or any other parts of the plan I failed to mention."

"You are interfering with GREMLIN."

"Maybe indirectly," said John, "but I'm not going to let those children get _butchered._"

Silence fell.

"You shouldn't have come here," said Aleister.

"Maybe, but I'm here anyway, so deal with it."

Silence fell.

"Why did you lie to them?" said Aleister.

"Hmm?"

"I'm not the number six, to begin with," said Aleister. "I'm certainly a level 5, but I'm not enlisted in the records of espers. The last thing I'd want is for my real name to appear on public. Number six is…someone else."

John smirked. "Well, I didn't say that you are number six of the seven espers, right? I didn't say anything about Academy City's having 8 level 5's."

Silence fell.

"You have talent in making people angry," said Aleister.

"Thanks," said John. "Could be my only talent besides my level 7 status and martial art skill."

"Really."

"Really."

Silence fell.

"Are you waiting for Move Point to come?" asked John. "Too bad. I set up anti-AIM field around here, so nobody can use esper power…well, besides me."

Aleister clicked his tongue. "Dammit."

John sighed. "Come on, man. It's been a while since we saw each other! Let's have a nice, good, _humanlike_ conversation once in a while!"

"You are crazy."

"Uh…among one who is calmly talking about human conversation and one who is supporting himself inside a vessel upside down, which is the saner one? Ding ding ding! Answer is…to be revealed next week!"

Aleister's vessel started to bubble.

"Whoops," said John. He calmed the vessel down by waving at it. "Sorry about that. I shouldn't have agitated you."

"I am going to kill you," said Aleister. "I will use all my magical interference power and my esper power, Imaginary District and MISAKA network, Aiwass and even those three boys and Index Librorum Prohibitorum and beat you down!"

"Looking forward," said John with a calm smile. "Still, I don't think you need to. You know how espers, the stronger they are, kill their hearts little by little. That's why there are no adult espers. The only ones are...you and me. On top of that, I'm prolonging my life by staying as a boy and you are prolonging yours by caging yourself in a vessel upside down. Plus you've become a skilled magician, so I can't imagine the tension in your heart."

Aleister didn't say anything.

"Let's face it, Alex. You and I have to die someday. It won't be long before we have our heart stopped. On top of that, I've used my power a little too much today so I've gotten weaker than ever. Heaven Canceller even said that I don't have more than five years to live. When I explained your situation, he said you had less than five months."

"I can change that," said Aleister. "I'm going to make science stand above all. I won't have a superior being stand above me."

"That's weird coming from a magician."

"I decided to be dirty," said Aleister, smirking in an evil way. "You taught me to do that, sensei."

Silence fell.

"I'm going to leave in a day," said John. "I've got to make a new level 7 inside Academy City before I _formally_ retire."

"Is that why you lied to Accelerator about his power?"

John smirked. "I didn't lie to him. I _encouraged_ him. I just made him _think_ that his power was Manipulation so that he could change his power into mine. I just wanted him to change his Personal Reality a little."

"Make him a level 6, huh," murmured Aleister. "You're really a trouble. You might have sown a seed that might make my long-held plan into nothing."

"You can prevent that. You've changed our world this far."

"**You are going to change my 20 years of dedication into nothing in two days!"**

John's smile didn't fade away.

Aleister's vessel started to bubble again.

"Whoops," said John, calming the vessel down again.

"STOP ACTING LIKE YOU CARE FOR ME! JUST LET ME DIE! JUST GO AHEAD AND USE YOUR MAGNIFICENT IMAGINE WEAVER TO BREAK ME AND MY CITY INTO PIECES!"

John shook his head. "That's not being nice."

Aleister couldn't feel his head from getting too mad. He started to choke.

John clicked his tongue and used Mental Out to calm him down.

Aleister, as much as he disliked it, had to calm down.

When the sound of the bubble died down, the room was in absolute silence.

"Well then," said John. "Now that I see you calmed down, let me ask you—why do you dislike me?"

Even Aleister had to laugh at that. "Are you serious?"

"No, no. I understand that you hate me because I cannot be under you. But that's not what I'm asking. Why do you hate me for what I do?"

Silence fell.

"In other words," said John with a somber smile, "why did you become so evil?"

Silence fell.

"Fine, don't answer me if you don't want to," said John.

"Her," said Aleister. "You failed to protect her in the end."

John twitched.

"You promised that you're going to protect her. You said that even if the world ends and the judgment day comes, you are going to make sure she's alive and well."

John didn't say a word.

"Yet, she's not here right now."

John sighed. "I should've known."

"You said you will protect my…" Aleister couldn't continue.

Silence fell.

"I'm sorry."

Aleister twitched. It was John who said it. The one who had betrayed his trust.

He had changed his life dramatically.

Yet he was just saying sorry.

"I'm not asking you to forgive me," said John, "but I don't want you to think that I haven't tried."

"Is that supposed to be an excuse?" growled Aleister. "If it is, it is a terrible excuse."

"It's not an excuse," replied John. "I just want you to know."

Silence fell.

"Why are you teaching those children?" asked Aleister. "Why do you bother?"

"They should be ready," said John. "They have to _be_ me. They have to return the Imagine Destroyer to this world."

"Imagine Destroyer alone?"

"No," said John. "I'm going to return Imagine Destroyer via the kid, Imagine Weaver via Nunotaba and Strategist via the Irregular."

"The Irregular," repeated Aleister. "You're going to teach Hamazura Shiage too?"

John didn't say anything.

"You're sick," said Aleister.

"I may be sick, but I'm not wicked," replied John. "If someone asks me several hundreds of times what I am to choose between a righteous way and a heroic way, I'm always going to choose the heroic."

"You're not a hero. I know that and you know that."

"Yes," said John. "I let ten thousand people die under my watch. However, in the end, someone did stop the experiment. Someone did save Index, someone did save Orsola, someone did stop World War 3, someone did fight for the sake of the world."

"Then, let that someone take charge even now," said Aleister.

"However, all those had chances of winning," said John. "If I didn't see even a speck of chance in those fights, I would've saved the day. However, not this time. Save those three, even Academy City cannot hope to fight the Magic God without help."

"I am here," said Aleister.

"The one who looks at everything and decides whether one has profit or not?" said John. "Yeah, that guy's reliable. You're going to interfere after all three are dead, aren't you? How can I just let that by?"

Silence fell.

"Speaking of that," said Aleister, "you are quite despicable yourself. You lied about the vessels."

"Maybe," said John with a smirk.

"When you were fighting with Kamijou Touma, I gained control over my systems again and used my surveillance robots to attack your vessels except that they were no longer there. When Kamijou left his hand on you, the vessels appeared again. You were using holograms to confuse me."

"Maybe," said John. "I didn't exactly trust Tsuchimikado."

"Couldn't have guessed," said Aleister.

John twitched. "That reminds me, what did you do to Shinobu-chan?"

"I erased all her memories and kept her under Aiwass. You'll never find her."

John's hand twitched. "So you're going to really keep her away from Accel-chan?"

Aleister made a crooked smile. "Yes. A little insurance for when I have no other way of dealing with Accelerator."

John shook his head. "That's not going to work. She'll get out of it eventually and help her family."

Aleister's smile died down.

"It has been a while since I was last here," said John. "You've improved a simple apartment room into something much more, I see."

"I moved on, unlike you."

"I don't plan on staying the same way forever. I'm moving on via my little friends."

Silence fell.

"So, in the end, you are going to interfere?" said Aleister."

"I'm not going to interfere," said John. "I'm only going to throw a little stone into the pond. The effect might be small, but I assure you, the pond is going to wave."

Aleister smirked for the second time. "Go ahead and try. In the end, they're all going to contribute to my plan."

John smiled. "Alex."

Aleister's smirk disappeared. "What?"

"It's good to see you well."

Aleister's face crumbled into unrecognizable. "YOU—"

Before Aleister got overagitated, John left the windowless building.


	6. 5 Level 6 Shift Project

John was in the alley.

He had the power of psychometer right now and so could tell what has happened in this alley.

10031's death.

John sighed. "I'm sorry."

He looked at his watch. It was almost 4'o clock but the lights and people's noise was nowhere near silence.

John tugged his hands into the hoodie and started walking towards Tokiwadai Middle School.

"It's time to meet her," murmured John.

* * *

Misaka's eyes shut opened.

She woke from her bed and looked to her right and left.

'What was that? Something gave me a chill!' thought Misaka. However, when she realized that she was in her dorm, some chills didn't seem like a pressing issue.

"Ara?" exclaimed Misaka. "I thought I fell asleep behind that idiot…"

And realizing what she has said, Misaka blushed to the point she was almost ready to burst. She looked immediately at her roommate, Shirai Kuroko. Her snores and the usual tantrums of onee-sama in her sleep confirmed that Misaka was the only one who heard of herself. Having realized that, Misaka decided to let Kuroko murmur her epithet in her sleep.

Misaka hastily prepared to go out. If she had injured him or if his enemy had injured him…Misaka couldn't even imagine the catastrophe.

'That idiot! Although I told him that he could rely on me…'

It was obvious that Kamijou Touma was the one who sent her to her dorm. Maybe he called Kuroko to teleport her to her bed or something, but he was the only one who knew where Misaka was yesterday, so he was the only suspect for her returning to dorm.

"Well, that saved trouble from the dorm inspector, though…" murmured Misaka.

When she finished dressing up, she walked out of the window and used her magnetic powers to go to the hospital.

So, she didn't realize that someone below was watching her fly away.

Someone with gray hoodie.

* * *

"So that's the infamous shorts, huh…" murmured John. "I see where people are saying that she is childish. That said though, she has good potential for her age. Well, incomparable to Misaki-chan, though…"

From a distance, a blue crackle and a lot of alarms were heard, indicating John of the third's site. If Misaka tried, she could've shut those alarms down too, but she was in such a hurry that it didn't even come to her mind.

John smirked. "A girl in love is scary."

He pressed his temples.

* * *

"Good morning, number 1," said the voice.

"It's afternoon, you shithead," said the black-haired teen. He was testing his handguns and checking the ammunitions he had. "Who is it this time?"

"You're going to England. We've got a top priority magician in there. She was one of Roman Catholic, but the Anglicans retrieved her from them and put her in secure position. However, we've recently figured out her location and wish to destroy her."

"That's nice," murmured John. "How powerful is she?"

"She is a top priority even over Aleister Crowley. She is strong."

John's hand stopped from pulling the cock. "Even stronger than Alex? That's rare."

"With Aleister-kun's calculation ability and exterior, he can probably beat her using elaborate trap, but in a one-to-one fight, his chance of beating her is lower than 5%."

"And you want me to fight that monster, huh? That's nice."

"She's of no threat at the moment. She actually is the one who requested the destruction."

"Heh," said John, standing up and pulling out a chocolate bar from the stand above. "So, what exactly is her power?"

The monitor paused for a second.

"Have you heard of 103,000 grimores?"

John raised his brows. He bit the chocolate bar and answered while rechecking his handgun. "No, but I'm going to destroy it."

A smirk was heard through the screen. "Good answer, Destroyer-san. We've arranged everything for you, so you just have to board the jet. You'll be in England in 4 hours."

"Geh," said the number one, dropping one of his magazines. "I'm riding that thing?"

"It's the fastest way to get there," said the voice. "Please understand the situation. What's more, the cost of one ticket is way above charts. Most people never get their chance to ride one, and are dying to."

"That's because they have never ridden it. It's freakin' fast. You are not travelling somewhere with that speed—you're just suffering the pressure the whole time."

"I take that as a yes," said the voice. "Well then, enjoy your ride. Your contact will support you with your guns and target information."

The monitor went off.

"Yareyare," murmured number one. "Guess I'll just have to live with that."

After checking his gun one last time, number one stepped off the van.

* * *

"Are you a pervert?" said Misaka.

"I don't think so, but then again we might have some different standards," said John.

He was grabbing Misaka's legs and not letting it go. She attacked him with her electric charges but he didn't look affected by them. Instead, he laughed and swung her around.

"THEN LET GO OF MY LEG ALREADY! I'm not as relaxed as to be playing with you here! If you don't let me go, I'll scream!"

"If you're trying to meet Kamijou-chan, he's already been released. You'd have no luck going to the hospital. I can tell you his room, but I don't think he'll be there."

Misaka grunted. "Che."

She didn't realize, out of frustration, that this person knew exactly what Misaka was after and about Kamijou's whereabouts although the said person had been with Misaka for a while.

"Well then, I guess I have no use," said Misaka. "Let me go. I won't run."

John slowly loosened the grip on her leg. Misaka stepped a little away from the gray hoodie and stared at him.

"Who are you?" said Misaka. "Why did you stop me?"

John shrugged. "Let's just say I'm your fan. I like you."

Misaka blushed. "A…ah. Well…I already have someone I like."

John stared at her for a while, then laughed his heart out at the epiphany. Misaka said nothing and just stared at this weirdo. "No, no, I don't mean romantically. I like you…well, let's say in a way your mother and father likes you."

John was going to say how Touma liked her, but he was sure that she would've been upset by that.

"So, who are you really?" said Misaka. John smirked and walked towards the vending machine. He twisted his shoulder and stretched few times, then started jumping lightly.

"AH," said Misaka. "Are you going to…"

He rotated on his right leg and kicked the vending machine while yelling,

"CHASER!"

* * *

"Here, my treat," said John with a curry soup on his hand.

"Don't act like you paid for it…" murmured Misaka, who reached for the can anyway. "So, who are you?"

John's smile died. He looked around, touched the bench, stared at the staircase beside him and at a blank space 5-6 meters away from him.

"Ah…so it was here," murmured John.

"Hah?" said Misaka.

"Nothing," said John with a sad smile. "Just…remembering family issues."

When Misaka tilted her head to the left, John turned to her with a grin. "Well, just call me Jonathan. I don't have a surname."

Misaka nodded. "Jonathan, huh? Are you a foreigner? You look domestic to me."

"That's because I polymorphed," said John. "Also explains my outside age. I'm actually hitting my sixties, though."

Misaka's brows twitched. "That sounds…wrong."

"Why?"

"An old man who appears like a child? I smell a criminal."

"Oh, I've never heard that one before," said John, exclaiming. "But I guess, I am interested in children your age."

Misaka twitched and sat further from John.

"You don't seriously think I'm a pedophile, do you?"

"Who knows. World is big," said Misaka, thinking whether she should attack him or call the judgment.

"That's a shame. Well, don't worry, I'm not a pedo. I'm just a teacher."

Silence fell.

"…A teacher?" repeated Misaka.

"A teacher. An esper teacher at that. Interested?"

"No, in this situation, I'm rather feeling worried than interested from your pedo statement."

John grunted. "We're getting nowhere…" said John.

Before Misaka could ask what he meant, John stood up. "First of all, I'm John Smith. I was lying about—"

John couldn't finish because Misaka flipped her finger and shot a railgun using the empty curry soup can.

"Oi! Don't be reckless—"

Before John could finish, Misaka manipulated the iron sand around the place and relentlessly attacked John.

"Ah come on!" yelled John. "I don't know what you heard from Touma-chi, but I'm not your enemy!"

Misaka didn't listen. "Get away from this town!"

John clicked his tongue. "Fine then." He pressed his temple.

And, as soon as he did that, the iron sand returned to its original position—on the ground. In fact, all matters were getting grinded slowly out of pressure.

Misaka gasped. She felt her body weighting thrice as much—no, five times as much. She slowly sunk into the concrete, which was burning hot from the sun's ray.

And, before Misaka's hands touched the hot plate, the Earth calmed its reckless greed.

Misaka jolted back and fell into the bench. Her eyes wide open, she could only stare at the sky.

"So, then," said John, to whom Misaka twitched and looked at, "are you interested _now?"_

Misaka didn't say anything.

"It seems like you were aware of me beforehand. Did you believe it?"

Misaka didn't answer.

No, she _couldn't_ answer.

Although he was incomparably calm and soothing compared to the current number one, there was something about this gray hoodie that made her shiver in her shoes.

Accelerator was powerful, and he showed it.

This guy is meek, but he is incomparably stronger and more powerful than Accelerator.

Misaka's eyes trembled, her teeth clenched and her hands clasped each other.

"I…I…"

John's smile disappeared. He scratched his head. "…Sorry about that. I didn't mean to scare you."

Misaka couldn't answer.

"I know I scare you a lot, but can you please hear me out?"

Misaka couldn't answer.

John waited.

He didn't have anything else to do anyway. If he had to spend another day with Misaka, it wasn't a bad deal. After all, Irregular was almost to the point of not needing his teachings.

John sat beside Misaka and waited.

The sun shone upon them, and the heat rose up almost to their nose, but John didn't flinch. He kept drinking the pile of cans beside him.

Misaka slowly looked at the man beside her. He was silently drinking the strawberry soup now.

"Esuse mee…" murmured Misaka.

John smiled and turned to face her. "What is it?"

Misaka didn't continue. John sighed and lay back into the bench.

"Yeah, I'm a level 7."

Misaka twitched.

"I am an adult esper who worked in AIM diffusion field. I even know your mom. Heck, she was my research friend even. She probably still knows me."

Misaka didn't say anything.

"Hello, are you going to say anything?"

"…So you can manipulate gravity?" said Misaka. "That's an amazing power."

"Nope," said John. "Well, yeah, I can, but I didn't manipulate gravity by manipulating gravity. I toyed with Earth's magnetic field and increased its power by five times."

Misaka twitched. "What?"

"In other words," said John, bending down and looking at her eyes, _"You can do the same thing."_

* * *

"Don't you want to protect him?" said John, following Misaka who walked—practically ran—towards a Judgment branch nearby.

"Look. I don't know you, I don't want to know you and I definitely don't want you between me and—" Misaka fell silent, blushing when she realized what she was saying.

"Like always," murmured John. "Fine, I'll step away from you and Touma-chan. Still, you've gotta be someone too! Right now you're too weak to do anything!"

Misaka grunted. 'Weak, huh. I haven't heard that ever since I've become level 5.'

"Come on, I can make you powerful enough to…" John paused. He couldn't say _an irregular to Alex's plans_. "I can make you powerful enough to…to fight Accelerator! And probably beat him!"

"Probably?" repeated Misaka.

"With how Accel-chan is right now, you can beat him thousand times over, with the choker and all, but when he awakens…huaa."

Misaka kept walking. She saw Uiharu, one of her friends, crossing the street, and smiled viciously.

"Uiharu-sa—"

John's brows knotted and he grabbed Misaka.

"Wai! What—"

Before Misaka could finish, they were outside Academy City.

* * *

"Is this where I think it is?" said Misaka with a trembling voice.

"This is the only place where you can see Earth while not dying. Of course it is."

The two were looking at a moon-sized blue planet above them. They were inside a dome-like glass room with oxygen supply on one end.

"Did you…just take me to moon?" said Misaka.

"Take me to moon. I think there was a song like that," said John.

Misaka ignored the lame pun and reached for John's hoodie. When John dodged to the side, Misaka yelled in frustration.

"DID YOU JUST TAKE ME TO A GODDAMN MOOOOOOOOOOOON?!"

"…That's a matter of perspective," said John.

"I DON'T BELIEVE THIS!" yelled Misaka. "How did you…no, of course you can! You're a level 7. _WHY_ did you take me to moon?!"

"Because you tried to run?"

"Do you kidnap people to moon when they try to run on regular basis?" yelled Misaka. "Don't say yes, it was rhetorical! Why did you take me to moon? I don't understand! I don't get the logic! Why would you take me to moon? I don't get it! I need an analyst! Why did this gray old man take me to moon? Why? Why? I don't get it at all!"

"…Calm down," said John with an awkward smile.

"CALM DOWN? I'M SORRY, BUT I DON'T GET TAKEN TO MOON ON REGULAR BASIS SO I'M A LITTLE HYPER RIGHT NOW! Why would you take me to moon?"

John tried to explain, but Misaka kept her tantrum.

"I mean, there are other more _logical_ places you can take me to! If you took me to, like, Russia or something, I'd at least understand! If you took me to some facility, or even JAIL for God's sake, I'd understand your logic! Hell, if you took me to underwater, I'd even understand THAT! Why the HELL WOULD YOU TAKE ME TO MOON!"

John thought it best to keep his mouth shut, so he didn't respond. But then, a new problem arose.

"Why wouldn't you say anything? I can't understand it! You took me to the moon and you decide to keep your mouth shut? Why would you do that? I don't get it! I need explanation! That was rhetorical, don't answer it, Goddammit! I still don't get it! Why moon? Hell, we should've picked the SUN with that logic! That'd have made more sense! I don't really mean it! Don't seriously think about it!"

"It won't be _that_ bad! It's actually nice out here. It's all silent and…"

"STOP. SPEAKING. NOW."

John sighed. 'What are you telling me to do…' thought John. Still, he didn't make the adventure of saying that and making her even more agitated.

He listened to the tantrums of this middle-schooler for about ten minutes.

When Misaka finally calmed down, John smiled. "Now, before I say anything, let me explain why we're here."

Misaka was exhausted to even talk back, so she just nodded.

"I did tell you a while ago that you can play around with gravity by using your electricity, right? But in order to get to that level, you need to awaken first."

"Awaken?" repeated Misaka.

"Oh, you don't seem to know about that. Well…you haven't been in friendly terms with Accel-chan, so that's understandable."

Before Misaka could ask what that meant, John pulled out his notepad and skimmed through it.

"Oh, that's a good starting point," said John. He closed the notebook and walked towards Misaka.

"Right now, the gravity is about 1.5m/s^2 so you can jump ten times as higher than usual. But why am I able to walk like normal right now?"

Misaka grunted and answered. "Because you are manipulating moon's magnetic pulse."

"Close," said John. "I'm pulling myself down into the moon by turning my body as magnet. Now then, is it possible to do that for something else too? Say there is person X in there," said John, as he pointed at one spot of the dome. "If I electrify that place, it's gonna turn into magnet for few seconds and pull itself down as well, right?"

"That's impossible. Most of the soil is sand and stones. Electrifying them won't change anything."

"Not if you use your electricity more delicately," said John, smiling.

When Misaka tilted her head, John picked up a rock from the surface and closed his eyes. The rock began to shake, and, later, began to float little by little.

"Whoa," muttered Misaka.

"Do you know what's going on here?" asked John, opening his eyes.

"Are you using your electricity to change the electron orbits of the rock?" exclaimed Misaka. "That's amazing!"

"Close, but not quite," said John with a smirk. When Misaka questioned John by making a puzzled expression, John explained. "I just _imagined._"

Silence fell.

"…Huh?" said Misaka. "What did you do again?"

"I said, I imagined."

"No, I don't really get it. You're not changing the orbits of the electrons?" said Misaka.

"Yes, I am, but not deliberately. I am simply wishing for this rock to float and the electric charges on my body are responding to that wish. I'm simply imagining. You are leaving your body to deliver."

"But…what?" said Misaka, still puzzled.

John sighed. The rock fell on the surface, creating a little puff of dust cloud. "This is the ideal level of all espers. It doesn't matter what your power is. If you have a control over something, you can do _anything_. You can change the magnetic field of Earth. You can change the dust into diamond. You can float a non-metal substance using electricity. You can even change vectors."

Misaka's eyes widened.

"This is awakening."

**Well it's good to be back.**

**Hello, it's lvl7judgelight. I got my computer back so I'll be continuing lvl7prj on.**

**I just thought some things might be confusing (because obviously I'm an amateur :b) so here are some clarifications.**

***Touma, when he was young, had the power of God, but because John used Imagine Destroyer to seal it off, his power disappeared over time. However, there're dangers of his powers coming back (e.g. During WWIII) so John gave it back to him.**

***Touma is very hostile to John because his body (the magic God body) remembers of horrid memories with him.**

***Touma is hostile when Imagine Breaker is not with him because his personality changes back to how it was.**

***No one said that Nunotaba was Accel-chan's sister. I just thought it might be fun if I put it that way.**

***Aleister is much much much much much much older than John, but he refers to John as sensei because John taught him how to fight.**

***John knows Aleister's plans, but he promised not to interfere because John broke Aleister's promise and let "her" die. (This is probably not true but heck this is fanfiction right?)**

***Accelerator's power _is_ vector manipulation, but John is saying that if he becomes level 6, he can do much more than just control vectors.**

***Irregular is a part of John's plan to screw Aleister around, but John is thinking of not teaching him because Misaka is more urgent student.**

***This happened after Touma's fight with Thor and the other GREMLINs, and is an alternative universe where Touma and the level 5's didn't fight.**

***John's power is Imagine Weaver, meaning he can be anything he wants to.**

***John was the past owner of Imagine Breaker and was also the level rater, but when he disappeared because of (spoiler), Aleister decided to use machines. By the way, Touma, by how he is right now, is a level 3. After John took the Imagine Breaker for a while to synchronize the Imagine Breaker to Touma's body better, Touma became level 4. His Imagine Breaker reaches half of his upper body and a little of his right face now. When Imagine Breaker reaches his head, he might (spoiler).**

**Well that's all I can think of. Thanks for reading :D**


	7. 6 Awakening

Aiho residence was in silence.

Aiho, who went out for Anti-Skill was not around, but Misaka Worst and Last Order were silently watching the unbelievable phenomena going on right in front of their eyes.

"Um…" said Worst. "Are you okay?"

"Hah?" blurted Accelerator, who turned and wiped his sweat. "What do you mean I'm okay, you shithead?"

"Um…you're not feeling bad? Cuz if you are, Misaka can go buy some medicine…"

"Shut up," said Accelerator, who turned back to continue what he was doing.

"Uh, I'm sorry to interrupt…" said Last Order, "but what are you doing now? Asks Misaka as Misaka tries to justify this unbelievable phenomenon."

"That's downright rude, you damn brat," said Accelerator. "I'm practicing. Can't you see?"

The two jolted back to the sofa. Accelerator, ignoring the two, continued to swing the bat.

"Is the other Misakas getting feedback of this?" murmured Worst. "This could mean a lot of things, you know."

"I…I think so, answers Misaka answers Misaka."

The two watched in silence of the number one esper in the Academy City…working out.

* * *

"This is…awakening?" repeated Misaka.

"Right now in Academy City, there are only two reported case of Awakening, and including me, who have unofficially awakened, there are only three espers in the world who have awakened."

"Then how am _I_ supposed to do this?" said Misaka. "I'm quite powerless than you think I am!"

"No, I do think you are powerless," said John. Before Misaka started to argue, however, John continued, "But you have been even more powerless, right?"

Misaka stopped pondering.

"You went all the way up to level 5 from level 1. That's an unbelievable achievement. On top of that, you are the only one in Academy City who has the potential of becoming level 6."

"…What?" said Misaka.

John smiled and began walking slowly towards Misaka.

"Tree Diagram calculated that Accelerator was the only one capable of becoming a level 6, but it'd have taken too long before he would become one…by normal means."

Misaka grunted. This was the background of Level 6 Shift Project.

"However, by killing you 128 times, Accelerator could become a level 6…is what the idea of killing 20000 sisters came from."

Misaka's head dropped and trembled, remembering of the horrid event taken on this August.

"Then again, he killed 10031 of the sisters and still didn't reach level 6. Instead, it was proven that Accelerator was not the strongest esper in the Academy City."

"What are you trying to say?" said Misaka, cutting John off. John stopped in front of Misaka and smiled.

"Did you know that Accelerator fought with several other espers even after the experiment stopped?"

"That's natural. If he's the number one, people would try to…" Misaka's eyes wide opened, realizing what John was trying to say.

"He has enough specs already to have killed you 128 times, but he hasn't become a level 6. Why is _that?_"

Misaka looked at John with confused expression, urging him to continue.

"He is _not_ capable of becoming level 6."

* * *

Of course, that was a lie.

However, it wasn't an entire lie.

It was true that Accelerator was capable of becoming level 6, but what John was trying to say was that Accelerator could not become a level 6 by killing people.

"Then…then where does your assumption of getting me into level 6 come from?" said Misaka, who was clearly tricked by this gray old man.

John smirked and continued. "It's quite simple. You fight with a being who beat the number one several times over."

Misaka stopped. "You…don't tell me…"

"You have to kill Kamijou Touma to become level 6."

Misaka shot lightning bolts to John. John jumped quickly to the side and avoided the attack.

"DON'T SCREW WITH ME!" yelled Misaka as she sprout iron sand from the ground.

"Wait wait! I didn't _tell_ you to kill him! I'm just sprouting facts!"

Misaka stopped. He was right. She released the iron sand, but kept her hand in front of the level 7. "Then what are you suggesting me? You are aiming for me to become a level 6, right? What do you want me to do?"

John sighed and continued. "Becoming a level 6 is _far_ off from your charts right now. However, if you become an awakened level 5, you can almost imitate level 6."

"How the hell am I supposed to awaken, then?" said Misaka.

"I told you, you imagine."

"HOW DO I DO _THAT_!?"

"You awaken?"

Misaka started to sparkle with electric energy. "Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! I'm gonna die! I'm gonna die of stress on the moon!"

"That's not good. It's bad to die."

"SERIOUSLY, SHUT YOUR GODDAMN MOUTH!"

John smirked and said, "I was kidding. In order for you to awaken, you have to go through similar experiences the other two and I went through."

"Other two? You mean the ones who awakened?" said Misaka.

"Yeah. Number one and number 2. This time, it's number three to go toe-to-toe with them!"

Misaka's brows centered. "If I awaken, I can do that?"

"Yeah. If I am to explain your power by level…well, you are something like level 5.3 right now. When you awaken, you become level 5.6, and when you awaken completely, you'll be level 5.9. By the way, Accelerator is level 5.1 right now, and when he awakens, he becomes level 5.7."

"He is level 5.1? He's weaker than me!"

"Technically, he is! Isn't that amazing? You can actually beat him in battle of specs! It's just that Accelerator's power is pain in the ass to get through."

"Yeah, it is," murmured Misaka. "Anyhow, Accelerator has nothing to do with my life anymore. He's not killing any more of…" Misaka paused.

"You don't need to do that every time I mention him," murmured John, who sighed and changed the topic. "Anyhow, to become a level 6, you have to awaken first. If you awaken completely, you'll be able to do what I do like walking to a nearby store."

"Heeh," said Misaka. "By the way, how did _you_ become a level 6?"

John grunted with smile. "Ah…well, that is…"

"Hoh hoh, what is this? Are you being crafty to a mere level 5, level 7-sama?"

No, it's just that I had something to do with your boyfriend about that, and when I try to explain all that, you're going to start asking more questions and you are going to get worried and even try to kill Alex and in the end get yourself killed…is what John wanted to say, but he intelligently kept his mouth shut.

"M-more importantly, I am going to meet someone right now. Wanna join in?"

"Heeh, changing the topic, huh?" said Misaka with a smirk.

John waited, hoping Misaka to go with him.

"Fine," said Misaka in the end. "I'll go with you. I can ask you any time I want, anyway."

John sighed in relief. He grabbed Misaka and returned to Earth.

* * *

"What's going on?" yelled the frog-faced doctor as he entered the room. "He collapsed?"

"Yes, I don't understand…he was so fine this morning yet…" the nurse said as she checked the temperature of the old man.

"Step aside!" said Heaven Canceller. "I'll try to do something! Prepare for CPR!"

"Eh, CPR? I thought he had a high fever…"

"JUST DO IT!" yelled the doctor. The nurse jolted and ran out of the room.

Heaven Canceller put his hands on the chest of the man and began counting his heartbeat. "Damn…he's dying!" murmured the doctor. He checked the clock and got out a cellphone. He called the judgment, hoping someone _else_ would pick up.

"It's a truly unfortunate thing that you have called me," said a voice of a man. "What is it, my kind enemy?"

"Aleister, what is going on?" yelled Heaven Canceller, who lowered his voice right after. "I thought he lost all his powers when he gave his Imagine Breaker to the Kamijou's child. Why is he sick?"

"Show him to me," said Aleister.

The frog-faced put the cellphone on John's ears and stepped a little aside. The cellphone beeped, signaling the doctor to pick the cellphone back up.

"So, what is wrong with him?" said the doctor.

"Hmm…I didn't expect this much Irregular in the plan…" said Aleister. "It'd be even better if he died here at this moment even…"

"What are you TALKING ABOUT?!" yelled the doctor. "It was his help that got you saved! If he didn't offer his arm sample to me, you'd be gone by now!"

"Truly, he's a trouble…" murmured Aleister, ignoring the doctor. "Who'd have thought that he was the same case as the invisible demon…"

"LISTEN TO ME! How am I supposed to save him?" said the frog-faced. "You are knowledgeable in this aspect. You should know about his body at least a little!"

"He's beyond saving," said Aleister. "All we can do now is pray." Aleister smirked. "Pray, huh. To the man who destroyed almost all of God's miracles."

"He saved your life," said the doctor, almost pleading now. "At least tell me what is going on."

"He's Personal Reality is being rewritten," said Aleister. "I didn't think that he'd still have his power even after holding the Imagine Breaker for 40 years. He was the same case as the Invisible Demon. He is becoming an esper now."

The doctor's face paled. "How strong is he?"

"In aspect of science, he's the strongest esper there is ever to come. He can destroy the Right Hand of God like it's a firecracker in the midst of atomic bomb explosions. He will become someone like me of science side."

The doctor dropped the cellphone. Aleister changed the cellphone into loud speaker and continued. "He is a level 3 at the moment. In ten minutes, he'll become level 4. And in another ten minutes, he'll be level 5. Until then, he'll be sure to live. However, after that, I cannot guarantee anything."

"In specs, how strong is he?"

"When he stops developing?" said Aleister. "Let's see…he'll be something that is over a level 5, but not quite like level 6…okay, let's just say that he _awakens."_

The doctor started pumping his heart. "How long can his heart last?"

"For over an hour. Afterwards, it's all up to luck."

The cellphone went out. However, the doctor didn't try to yell to Aleister. He knew that even if Aleister wanted to save him, which was not the case, John was beyond saving now. It was now a battle of self.

"Come on, John," murmured the frog-faced, continuing to pump his heart. "Snap out of it."

The sound of slowing heart beat filled the room. However, the doctor kept pumping his heart.

The doctor kept trying.

* * *

"Where are we going?" asked Misaka. "It's not safe around here, you know."

It was almost 4'o clock in the afternoon. It has been 12 hours since Misaka went out of her dorm. She'd have caused her friends trouble for sure.

"It's fine," said John. "If someone comes to fight me, I'll take care of them using my telepathic ability."

"Geh, you even have that annoying girl's ability?" murmured Misaka.

"Not quite. I don't need that remote controller to do it."

"Now you're just showing up."

"Maybe," said John with a smirk.

"So, in the end, where are we going, really?" said Misaka. "It's not to say hi anyway, right?"

John smirked. "Yes it's not."

With his hands tugged in his pocket, John slowly walked towards the place with lots of container boxes.

* * *

"This is baaaaaad…" murmured Misaka.

Right now, John and Misaka were surrounded by thugs from alley. They were probably espers of level 2 or more, but they obviously didn't know who they were taunting.

"Come now, it's just the two of us. Just ditch that old man and let's have fun. You'll be amazed at what we can do, ojou-chan," said one of the thugs.

"No, I'm telling you, you should stop speaking right now," said Misaka with a sweat tickling down her cheek. Three of the thugs were on her and about eight were onto John, surrounding him and asking for money.

"Don't be scared, ojou-chan. We'll treat you nicely," said the bald-headed thug, who laughed hysterically afterwards. "She's sweating yo trashes! Be nice to her!"

"Yes sir~" said the thugs, who laughed hysterically altogether.

"I should say," said John, who was silently watching the thugs with his hands on his pocket, "this is one of the best comedies I've seen in all my life."

'Uh-oh," thought Misaka. He was going to move.

"Guys, seriously, get away from us. You'll get hurt."

"Hooh? You're showing off because you are a Tokiwadai student? Because you are an esper? But can you take down all of us?" The thugs laughed again.

"Yareyare," said John, who pushed two of the thugs with his left hand and grabbed Misaka's hand. "Come on!" yelled John, who stepped on the AC and started running on the walls.

"Owawawawawa!" yelled Misaka. John pulled her and hugged her under his head. He then jumped from wall to wall and arrived at the rooftop.

"Yo, guys!" called John. "I'm here!"

The thugs stared at John and Misaka with a dumbfounded expression. Still, they came back to their senses and roared.

"Get'em, boys!" said the leader-looking thug.

"Osu!" yelled the rest. The thugs scrambled to find a way up.

John pulled on Misaka's hand and now grabbed her waist. Before Misaka could respond, John started flying off from building to building like a ninja.

"WOAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Misaka screamed. "Let's just use our powers, all right?!"

"Nope, it's pain in the ass!" said John. "Also, I don't want those guys to know that I am an esper!"

"Why?" said Misaka, who clutched on John when he started jumping wider.

"Because I want to fight them by hand!" said John, who twitched and screeched on a roof. He left Misaka on the top and jumped down with no hesitations whatsoever.

"OI!" yelled Misaka, but when she looked down, John was unharmed. He had slowed himself down by slipping on the walls like a slide.

Misaka tried to save the thugs' life by shooting a railgun and drawing their attention, so she pulled out a coin, only to drop it.

Meanwhile, John was having the fun of his life.

"Hello boys!" yelled John. There were three thugs below him. John jumped on one and grabbed him by the neck using his legs. He quickly punched the heads of the two guys behind him and flipped the guy under him using wrestling technique.

"There!" said a voice from the left. John smirked and started climbing wall again. He grabbed one of the pipes and turned around the corner, finding five guys on the front and three in the back. The thugs didn't expect him to be on the rooftop, so they kept running, and were caught by surprise when a gray hoodie jumped on one of them and broke his arms.

"Yeahhhhhhhrgh!" yelled the unfortunate victim.

When four thugs turned to find John, they waved their hands to punch him. John went on his knees and punched the two guy's…soft spots.

"Hnng!" gasped the victims. Before the other two could go to their aids, John grabbed the crouching thugs' heads and kicked both of the thugs' chin, getting them unconscious.

"Now then…" said John, who ran towards the three thugs. The two in the front went on a guarding stance to block off his arms and lock him, so that the on in behind could punch the living hell out of him.

However—

"Ngyaaaaaaaaaaa!" yelled the two guys, whose guards were proven futile when John punched the two's arms in a power that threw them away, and even hit the guy behind them and knock him unconscious.

And, the coin fell with a 'ching'.

The thugs were all grunting. Six were unconscious, two were psychologically damaged, one had his arms twisted and another two had their arms crushed.

"So, that's eleven," said John, wiping his sweat off. "What's wrong, Misaka?" said John, looking up and finding a troubled face.

"No…nothing," replied Misaka, who sighed and prayed for the thugs' well-being.

* * *

Number 1 looked around. It was nightfall. Most of the guards were tired and their security was lax.

John slowly stood up and pulled out a handgun with a silencer attached to it. He grabbed three magazines and silently left the car.

He was about fifty hundred meters away from the target, and most of the guards were non-magicians and non-espers.

"Which means my power has absolutely no effect to them…" murmured John. He loaded the gun with a magazine and pulled the cock. He put his gun in his sides and covered his face with a black mask.

He slowly ran towards the sewer and quickly—as if he has done this several times—opened it up. He then slowly lowered himself into the sewer and closed the entrance.

Number one covered his face and blocked off the nasty smell from getting up to his nose. He quickly pulled out the handgun and ran towards the nearest exit.

About fifteen minutes later, John stopped. He looked up and around. When he confirmed that he was at the right place, he started climbing the ladder beside him. However, he didn't use his feet, but just the two hands to climb to reduce the noise. When he reached the top, he silently put his feet on the ladder and pushed the sewer up. When no guards were alerted, John quickly climbed all the way and lay on the grass. He had no time to close the sewer back. He rolled and aimed for the two guards by the door.

With two silent wind slashes, the guards were no longer of this world. John quickly pulled their bodies into the grass and stripped one of the guards. He had no time to take them on, so he just carried them under his arm and opened the door using his id.

John slowly opened the door and found a security camera. He hid behind the door and shot the camera down. Although this would've triggered the alarm, he wouldn't be able to un-trigger them completely anyway. John ran towards the other room and slowly opened the door.

The door made a terrible creaking sound, and three voices yelled, "Who's there!" in British-English. John threw a flash grenade and covered his eyes.

When the grenade exploded, John aimed his gun at the three guards and pulled his trigger. They all fell with a thunk. However, number 1 had no time to hide them. He put his gun in his back pocket and ran towards the altar in the center, where there was a girl in a white nun clothes.

She was a mature girl about 20's, with her hands and legs bounded. Her eyes and mouth were covered. John grunted and approached the nun.

The nun's clothes got nullified when John approached her by two meters. John didn't even try to avert his eyes. He had enough problems in his life to be fantasizing about a mature girl's body.

He quickly slid his hands from top to bottom. When he felt nothing, he touched her head and concentrated. A sound of something vanishing into a thin air rang in the empty room.

She was now a normal girl.

However, John twitched. His brows knitted and his face crumbled a little. Still, they were not supposed to be there. It was matter of time before the guards came to pick them up.

John quickly changed into the guard's clothes and removed her bounds.

"You…you…pervert!" yelled the girl. "You touched…my…my…"

"Shut up," said John with an unbelievably terrifying face, which shut the girl's mouth up. "Tell me your name, nun. And dress in this. I'll get you out."

The girl, with a little dejected face, covered her body with John's black hoodie. "I'm…I'm not a nun. They just put me in these clothes to protect me."

"Heh," said John. He looked around and found a sewer on a corner of the room. However, they were too small to pass by. John clicked his tongue and looked at the girl.

"Oi, you—"

"It's Index. Index Librorum Prohibitorum."

"Whatever. You, Index, do you know a way out?"

"Th-there's a secret passageway only priests use."

"Show me," said John, pulling out a magazine from his back pocket and reloading his gun. However, he was smart enough to not drop his magazine and leave it be.

"Oh, right," said John. He went to the altar and picked up the now-useless walking church. He put them under his arms and ran towards Index, who now was running towards the door.

"Wait, I don't have the keys!" yelled Index, to whom John ran to and covered her mouth. John pushed her a little gently to the side and shot the door without hesitation. Then he whammed the door and pulled Index in. To hide his escape, he pushed the door back into its original place and ran towards the light.

"Wait, wait! So, you are the Imagine Destroyer? It's my first time seeing you! Nice to meet you."

John sighed. "Yeah, I am."

"How old are you?" asked Index, who now ran with a smile on her face.

"I'm hitting my thirties," said John, still looking bored.

"I'm 24. Nice to meet you!" said Index with a smile.

John sighed and said, "Yareyare."

**Hello, this is lvl7judgelight.**

**So we've come back to Earth and are viewing a little of Misaka getting bullied and a little of John's past.**

**I thought things might be confusing, so I wrote more clarifications.**

***John was the number 1 before Academy City rose. He worked as an agent who deleted people of their esper abilities and magical powers. That's why Aleister and John are the only two remaining adult espers and the current espers are all children.**

***When espers use their power, their heart throbs slower. This is unrecognizable so it didn't show an effect yet, but in John's case who became a level 6 straight up, it was a big deal. In order to keep his heart beating, he polymorphed into a teenager.**

***When Touma first met John, he was more like a foreigner (he polymorphed into his younger self) but when he met Misaka, he polymorphed into a random Japanese crossing the street. That's why Touma said that he was taunted by a foreigner-looking guy and Misaka said John looked domestic.**

***Index Librorum Prohibitorum who is in her 24 is not Index Librorum Prohibitorum who is sleeping with Touma (sounds wrong :b).**

***John had his Imagine Breaker for similar reasons with Touma; he had over-scaled power that he had to hold himself down by the help of Imagine Breaker. In his case, though, he had his Imagine Breaker spread all the way up to his head because he was an esper and therefore had more synchronization than Touma did.**

***John Smith is not his real name (obviously). His real name is Jonathan and he has no surname.**


	8. 7 Last Class

"What's going on…?" said Kamijou Touma, who was tied to a windmill.

Upside down.

At this rapid development, Touma breathed in and out. "Calm down…calm down…calm down…calm down…calm down…LIKE HELL CAN I CALM DOWN!"

Touma looked around. It was the old place with lots of container boxes. The tiring episodes yesterday wore him down and when he arrived at his room, he collapsed right away and passed out.

"Shit…I didn't lock my door!" yelled Touma. But then, he breathed in and out again and began trying to think logically.

"So, I was all beaten up and tired, so I don't think Index would try to go on and kidnap me here. Biribiri middle schooler…well, there's no reason for her to do this. Well…Tsuchimikado might do something like this, and maybe someone from Magic Side…but…"

Touma clenched his teeth and yelled, "It's so **freaking obvious that it was that damn gray hoodie who did this!"**

And indeed, he was right. John went into Touma's room, found him sleeping his whole day out, picked him up and carried him to this place, where he told Misaka to be after an hour.

In other words, Touma was helpless for an hour.

The Imagine Breaker sighed and said, "Such misfortune…"

From behind a container box about ten meters away from Touma, a man in gray hoodie smirked.

* * *

"Well done, number 1," said the voice. "We'll put the money to your account by tomorrow. For the meantime, a job well done."

"I din'do it," said John.

The voice paused. "I believe I have misheard you. Could you please repeat your sentence?"

"I didn't delete it," repeated John. "Rather, I couldn't."

Silence fell.

"…The money will nevertheless be sent to your account, since you have retrieved the grimores," said the voice. "A job well done, Destroyer-sa—"

"Don't screw with me," said John. "If you do, I'll go to your house and lay _my bullet_ in your such important brain."

The voice's smirk was heard. "I expected this to happen."

John clenched his teeth. "You expected it, huh. That's surprising, for you to be able to predict something I was wary of."

"The Grimores are no longer in the form of a magical scripture," said the voice. "Rather, they are in the form of a memory. It is a pure document—no speck of magic in it. It's just a written data."

"Data that can do a lot of dangerous things?" said John.

"Ahaha, you have such a dry sense of humor," said the voice. "Yes, indeed. The data can be a threat to mankind's existence as a whole, but with no way to tap into it, it cannot be used. The only way to read it is by the prohibited library manually reciting it, but that is simply impossible."

"Can't she use it for herself?" asked John, still frustrated.

"_If _she were a magician, yes," said the voice. "But she isn't, or is she?"

John grunted. He was right. He destroyed both her Personal Reality and her magical capability. She was a normal human with memories of all the Grimores."

John looked at behind him. There was his favorite black van, which is also his dear home. John looked at the telephone and sighed. "Fine. I'm going away for a vacation. Get me a ticket out of this island."

"I don't know what you don't like about Japan," said the voice.

"I don't like how I always get this feeling that I'm being watched," said John with a sneer.

The voice smirked. "Very well, Destroyer-san. However, we still have a job for you. A _lifelong job."_

John listened.

"We want you to keep the girl. You can do what you wish to do with her. You can dispose of her if you truly wished to. You can carry her around or sell her in black market. Just make sure she doesn't remember anything when you sell her though."

John twitched. "That's interesting. You want me to wash your hands, huh?"

"Pretty much, yes," answered the voice.

John smiled viciously. "Fine then. Prepare two tickets to England. I'm going away."

The voice's twitch was so evident that John could even hear it. "…What's your purpose of going her?"

"I'll dispose of her in England. Come on, give me two tickets."

The voice fell silent, and in a while, sighed. "Fine. Please keep the girl with you, and preferably, without harming her."

John hung up without hearing another word. He didn't want the voice to change his mind. He turned around and walked towards the van.

When he entered the van, the silver-haired girl was silently sleeping in his clothes. John closed the van and started driving.

When the van jolted in its start, the girl twitched and opened her eyes. She looked at the driver's seat and found John. "Ah…hello. Where are we again?"

"We're in Japan. It's an archipelago under East Asia."

"Oh, I see." She crawled her way to the driver's seat and brought her face close to John. John twitched and pushed her face gently. "What is it?" said John with an irritated voice.

"Can you show me around? I've never been in Asia."

"If you can shoot people down, yes," answered John coldly. "There're a swarm of espers in here. If you don't want to get killed, just stay in the van."

"Ueeeh…" said the girl. "Well, it cannot be helped, I guess."

She jumped backwards and landed on John's bed. "It's a pretty nice place for a guy's room!"

John sighed and said, "Such misfortune…"

* * *

"Hello," said John.

Touma, with a handkerchief in his mouth, couldn't yell for the bastard who tied him up upside down. Still, the situation was a little tense for Touma that he wouldn't have yelled even if he could.

On one side of the empty lot was John who casually walked with his hands tugged in his hoodie.

On the other side was a girl, who looked terrified and was constantly opening and closing a flower-looking device on her back.

The cyborg girl clearly was terrified. Although she could manipulate the powers of all the level 5's, she couldn't even hope to fight against a level 7.

"Your name was…Rensa, wasn't it?" said John, walking slowly towards her. "I was looking everywhere for you. In a week or so, you're gonna get started, aren't you? Before that, we have some things to settle."

Rensa's flower in her back opened and closed again. She then manipulated air and yelled, "DIE!"

John smirked. "I somehow expected this." He dodged to the side and let the burst of air pass by.

Rensa's evil smile disappeared. "You…dodged?"

Normally, strong espers would take the attack of the esper head on or alter the projectile of the attack. However, this guy dodged the high-velocity attack with his physical legs.

Rensa sneered. "You are…not a normal esper, are you?"

"Nah, it's just that I have some time before Misaka-can comes for that spiky boy hung upside down, so I can savor my fight. That's why I dodged."

Rensa kicked the floor and flew towards the level 7. "I'll kill you!"

John's bangs sparked. Rensa fell on the ground and started gasping.

"Right now, you solely are experiencing fifteen times the original gravity. You might have died if you did not calculate right before I changed the gravity."

Rensa huffed and slowly stood up. All she had to do was change the gravity of the Earth for herself by transforming the vectors. It was simple.

However, before she could even start her calculations, John was already in front of her.

"The moment you calculate, I can use railgun to hole you up," said John, getting ready to flick a stone from his thumb. "If that happens, you won't be able to calculate and you'll die. Even the original Accelerator has problems calculating two things at the same time."

Rensa smirked and waved her hand. John crouched and dodged the attack. She then flew towards John with her hands opened. "I am a computer. I can calculate better than that damn brat!"

John smirked. "I know. That was just a bluff." John waved his hands. Rensa suddenly flew upwards, missing John by an inch.

Rensa, while flying, realized what he did.

"He changed the gravity back to normal…!"

When Rensa changed her gravity back to normal, she suddenly jolted and crashed into the ground. John turned the gravity back to fifteen times. However, right before she crashed to the ground, she manipulated the vector and managed to reflect the reaction of her crash.

"That was clo—"

Before Rensa could finish, she felt a jolt from the ground. John changed the gravity back to normal. Rensa sneered and calculated as fast as she could. Thanks to that, she didn't fly that much into the sky.

However—

"Hi," said John in front of Rensa. "Did that hurt?" asked John, who clearly was not worried of her, since he was holding a stone in his finger.

"No thanks to you," said Rensa, who waved her hands to try to hit John. John slapped her wrist and smirked.

"Now then, let's have a deal," said John. "I will not use more than one power, which in this case is number 3's. I will allow you to change your power to whatever you want to be. Still, I highly encourage number 1's power."

Rensa sneered and flew backwards. She inhaled and raised her right hand to the sky. John smirked and flicked his finger, shooting a railgun five times the original's speed.

However, because of that, the stone crumbled away before it hit Rensa.

"Shoot, I forgot," said John, who picked up two more stones and threw them to Rensa, who simply changed the vector of the stones and crushed them into smithereens. Rensa smirked and flew in a speed of sound towards John. John sighed and raised the gravity.

Rensa jolted, but calculated unbelievably quickly and continued to fly towards John. John manipulated the iron sand and created a wall between him and Rensa.

Rensa, without hesitation, punched the wall and tried to manipulate its vector. However—

"…?" Rensa jolted backwards to figure out what was going on. However, she couldn't. She couldn't comprehend the phenomena in front of her eyes.

"I couldn't…no. 1 couldn't…break through the wall?" muttered Rensa.

It was impossible. Theoretically, there was no way to alter number one's calculations. Vectors, no matter how powerful they were, had to be altered the moment it touches Accelerator's hands. Yet now…

"…How is this possible?" said Rensa in despair. "I am supposed to have the power of the strongest esper in Academy City!"

John sighed. "You think I'll tell you if you asked?" He released the iron wall and ran towards Rensa. Rensa immediately went into a guarding position. However, moments before John struck Rensa, John manipulated the iron sand again and 'guard' himself with it.

And then…

Rensa flew backwards in response to John's punch.

John then changed the gravity back to normal. Rensa flew away into the atmosphere in a speed fifteen times the normal.

"Yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

She manipulated the vector at the last moment and flew towards John with the same velocity.

John smirked and sprouted all of the iron sand in the whole lot. The ground looked like it was a black sea roaring towards the girl. John manipulated the iron sand and sent a swarm of swords to the girl.

Rensa, of course, tried to manipulate the iron sand. However, when the sand pierced her arm, she jolted and quickly manipulated out of the swarm of clouds.

John released the iron sand which fell on the ground.

"I get what you're doing now…" said Rensa. "You're vibrating them, aren't you?"

John smirked. "Yeah. I vibrated the iron sand cloud so that it moves into all directions. If it moves into all directions, you cannot change the iron sand's trajectory."

Rensa sneered again. Her number one power was rendered useless. Still, there was another power she could use that was stronger than the number 3.

She flapped her flowers and formed hundreds of dark matter spears.

"All of these spears are immune to physical attacks and electrical charges, so you cannot manipulate or block them anyway you want to!" yelled Rensa as she fired all of the spears towards John.

John smiled and said, "Yareyare." He created another round of iron sand clouds and blocked off Rensa's view.

"Trying to raise your imperceptibility? It's useless!" Rensa created few more dark matter spears and covered her body in armor.

"Just have a question," said a voice behind her, to which Rensa jolted. "Why do you announce to the world what you are going to do?"

Before she could turn, all the dark matters disintegrated. Where they disintegrated, only sparks of electricity were left. Then, Rensa sunk to the ground. She realized that her wings were also disintegrating into the thin air.

"I'm the one who wrote that Personal Reality," said John. "I know all its weaknesses and strengths. You cannot beat me using that."

"Che," muttered Rensa.

Rensa opened her AIM Receptor and closed it. Then, she slowed down and arrived at the ground.

John also slowly raised his gravity value and returned to surface. The iron sand cloud also settled, so there was nothing but silence in the area.

"He he…" murmured Rensa.

John raised one of his eyebrows. "I see what you did. You quickly changed back to Accel-chan's power and slowed yourself down, huh." John stretched widely and slowly walked towards Rensa. "So, what's your next plan?"

Rensa's AIM Receptor opened and closed again. She smiled viciously and laughed.

John twitched. "Stop what you're trying to do."

"Why not? Ah, this all makes sense. I was not realizing the simplest answer to this problem! I didn't realize it!"

Then, Rensa pressed her temple.

John sighed. "Fine then, do as you like." John raised the gravity by fifty times. However, Rensa didn't even bulge.

"I HAVE THE POWER OF GOD! I HAVE THE POWER OF LEVEL 7!"

She looked at John. John realized what she was trying to do and quickly crouched and dodged the number 4's lasers. He then got out the coin he picked up from his fight with the thugs and flipped his finger without hesitation.

The railgun burst towards Rensa, but she simply increased the gravity of the coin and made it hit the ground. The ground was toughened by the gravity increase, so nothing significant happened, but that was not a good thing. The problem was that nothing significant happened.

"Ahahahaha! This feels great! To have the power of God in my control, it's like I can kill every single one of you worthless bastards!" said Rensa with her arms opened to the sky. "And as for you," said Rensa, looking back at John, "I will give you a slow, delicious and painful death. Look forward to it."

However, John wasn't listening.

John was simply looking at the moon, and silently counting backwards. "Five…four…three…two…"

"What are you mumbling abo—"said Rensa, except she couldn't finish her sentence. Her eyes opened widely and she went for her throat. She glugged like she was trying to breath underwater, and she fell on her knees.

"Wha…is…glug…"

She couldn't finish her sentence. Her control over gravity started to leave her. She began to sank into the ground like she was getting trampled by an elephant.

Slowly and painfully.

"You…dare…"

John released his gravity control and got another coin out.

"Hurts, doesn't it?" said John. "That's the price for having the power of God. I survived it, but can your metallic body endure it?"

Rensa yelled at John, "I will KILL Y—"

However, Rensa coughed blood before she could finish her sentence. John aimed at the cyborg and made a stern face.

"Let me lift your sufferings up."

"**I WILL KILL Y—"**

The railgun flew through the empty lot.

And all the sounds stopped, as if the world has come to an end.

John looked at the now-metallic remains and sighed. "I'm sorry about this, Touma-chan, but it had to be done."

He approached Touma and grabbed his head. Touma tried to yell, but the handkerchief stopped him from doing so.

"So, time to erase all memories!" said John.

And, Touma's eyes opened widely.

* * *

"What's going on here?" said Misaka, who had her coin aimed at the level 7.

"As you can see," said John. "I'm going to kill him."

Misaka's hand trembled. "I…don't understand. Why do you have to kill him?"

"He is a hero, but he is also the current owner of the Imagine Breaker. If I take it away from him, the dark side of Academy City will all crumble."

"Wha…I don't understand! I thought you were a good guy!"

John smiled viciously. "Just what made you think that? I am just a level 4 kid with psychokinetic ability. I just pressed you down when I told you that I was manipulating gravity. I just brought you to a facility that has moonlike environment after I hit the back of your neck and _said_ I teleported. I just made it look like I was doing something magical by lifting that stone, but I was just using my power!" John laughed villainously. "I can't believe you fell for all that! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Misaka's face paled. This guy was really going to kill Touma.

He was going to flip his finger and kill him.

He was.

Misaka had to stop him.

But how? How is she supposed to stop a level 4 who completely crushed her?

John approached Touma slowly. His smirk didn't disappear from his face as he prepared to shoot the stone from his finger.

Misaka clenched her teeth. 'It doesn't matter if I cannot beat him! I have to do something! I have to save that idiot!'

Her bangs crackled and she shot electric beam from her bangs. However, few rocks flew from the ground and blocked the shock off.

"Didn't I tell you? You have to do better than that to beat me." John, still with an evil smile, slowly turned his finger towards Misaka.

Misaka clenched her teeth again and brought out three coins from her pocket. "RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

A beam of light exploded from Misaka's hand. However, John just dodged to the side.

Misaka's eyes widened when the railgun hit the boy.

It holed him, went on and holed the container box behind him. The windmill he was tied to slowly leaned forward, slowly crushing him.

Misaka quickly manipulated iron sand and summoned the boy in front of her.

She checked his body.

He was dead.

He had no pulse, and his heart was holed. No one could have survived that.

Misaka tried to speak. "I…I…"

"Shame," said John, still with a vicious smile. "I wanted to get him myself."

Misaka's eyes turned deadly. She raised her head in an unbelievable speed. John twitched but still kept his footings.

"What, are you going to scare me to death? Too hopeful, aren't you," said John, who laughed at himself afterwards.

Misaka's eyes started to fill with tears. John twitched. His smile disappeared.

"Uh…I didn't—"

Misaka didn't listen to John. She raised her hand and put it in front of John, as if she was grabbing him. John started to back away, but his feet didn't leave the ground.

No, wait.

His feet didn't leave the ground.

John slowly sunk into the ground, starting with his knees, then his hand, then his chest, then his face. He slowly crashed into the solid surface.

Area about 2 meters around John started to rumble. The pebbles started to crack, as if they couldn't bear their own weight. John's face started to bleed, and his nose started to bend into weird direction.

Then, Misaka murmured.

"Go to hell."

The whole lot started to crack open. It was as if, as Misaka said, hell was opening its mouth to swallow up the evildoers. John screamed in fear, but he couldn't. He slowly separated into two, since he was heavily stuck on the ground.

"Arh…arh…arhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

The two doors to hell started to tilt little by little. John tried to control his body and get out of it, but he was too late. He fell in a speed thirty times faster into the magma.

"Burn," murmured Misaka, who slowly closed the hell back. "You deserve no less."

Suddenly, from behind Misaka, a figure appeared. Misaka quickly turned to see a ghost—no, a live person of the person she saw dead just moments ago.

Misaka's eyes widened.

She tried to speak, but she couldn't.

She killed him just moments ago. How was he still alive?

How was the guy in her arms with a hole in his heart smiling to her right now?

* * *

"Heya, biribiri," said the Imagine Breaker a little nervously. "I'm sorry about this."

Misaka lost all her powers. She looked at her arms. Touma's dead body still lay in her arms.

"Uh…what's…?"

Touma smiled a little nervously and touched the dead body with his right hand. The body disappeared.

"That was…?"

"I'm really sorry!" said Touma, who suddenly groveled and begged. "I just listened to that old man! He said it's all for you, so…!"

Misaka, with a blank expression, turned and found the gray-haired foreigner she's never seen before. However, she could tell that it was the one she tried to kill.

"Congrats," said John. "And sorry."

Misaka blankly stared at John, and back at Touma, and started to tremble.

John's smile disappeared. "Touma-chan, stand up and look."

Touma jolted and slowly looked at Misaka, who was…crying.

Touma's nervous expression slowly melted away. "Misaka…"

Misaka punched Touma's shoulder. "You idiot! You idiot! You idiot! You idiot!"

Touma just received all her punches. He turned to John and sneered, who shrugged and backed off a little.

"I thought you were…I thought you really…" said Misaka, who grabbed Touma's shirts and shook a little.

Touma's eyes twitched.

"…I'm sorry."

"No, I won't forgive you! I will never forgive you!"

The punch continued, and John warmly smiled at the two.


End file.
